Citizenship

The naturalization process for long-term foreign residents in Greece remains a drawn-out and challenging ordeal, despite the introduction of nationwide exams in 2021.

Income criteria and extensive delays continue to impede applicants, with case reviews ranging from months to years.

The process for granting Greek citizenship to foreign nationals continues to be bogged down by a mass of red tape and bureaucratic hurdles that cause unbearable delays.

Even when applicants pass the relevant exams, they must wait way too long to become naturalized. 

Bureaucratic hurdles do not constitute immigration policy nor assimilation policy.

Approximately one-third of residents from third countries in the European Union (EU) are living in overcrowded conditions, a situation mirrored by a significant number of Bulgarians in their own country, according to Eurostat data. In 2023, 34.2% of third-country nationals in the EU were classified as living in overcrowded homes, where the number of rooms was inadequate for the household size.

Yesterday, Tuesday, the Government Gazette was published, officially granting Greek citizenship to Brody Baldock.

Croatia will reintroduce compulsory military service starting January 1, 2025, with a service period lasting two months, as announced by Croatian Defense Minister Ivan Anušić. This decision marks a return to conscription, which had been suspended since 2008 when the country shifted to a volunteer-based system.

General Carsten Breuer, head of defense in Germany, has proposed that women in the country should also be subject to conscription, according to reports from DPA. Germany abolished conscription in 2011, but provisions still allow for compulsory military service during times of war or heightened tension.

Berlin is set to put into effect a key law on June 27, enabling millions of foreigners residing in Germany to obtain German citizenship without renouncing their original nationality.

Greek lawmakers Georgios Aspiotis and Michalis Gavgiotakis announced on Tuesday that they was leaving the parliamentary group of far-right Spartiates (Spartans) and would serve as independent MPs, in a letter addressed to the House Speaker.

The survey for the newspaper “Parapolitika” was conducted before the decision that excluded the Spartiates party

Greece's Supreme Court banned on Wednesday the far-right Spartiates (Spartans) party from running in this year's elections for the European Parliament, the Athens News Agency reported.

A legal source confirmed the report to Reuters. Court decisions in Greece are not immediately announced.

The court ruled that the party did not fulfil the set requirements to contest the vote.