Annual Report on Organised Crime in Greece for the Year 2004

The socio-economic and political changes that took place mainly in the countries of Eastern Europe and the Balkans favoured, inter alia, the development of criminal action undertaken by criminal Organisations (Greek and foreign) in Greece. The continuous political and economic instability in the above mentioned countries with the sequential development of illegal markets in conjunction with the greatest commercial and other mobility across the borders and the use of new technologies
(especially the communication) had as a result the internationalisation of the organised crime and the extension of action by the criminal organisations in all Balkan Countries.

The above situation should be recorded and studied systematically, so that to develop the more appropriate tools in order to deal with it. In order to better understand every field of criminal activity, it is necessary to have a thorough examination of the phenomenon and criminal organisations so as to make sure that analysis reflects, as far as possible, its real dimensions.
This report attempts basically to register the phenomenon by focusing on crimes and criminal groups that cause the most serious problems, as they have been identified at European level and specified at National level. It follows the organised crime
analysis directives, agreed upon by the EU Member States, as the expert analysts of the M-S have recently amended them.