Print - Troubled Greece Assumes EU Rotating Presidency - Novinite.com January 1, 2014, Wednesday // 09:06 Debt-hit Greece will retain the EU Presidency for the first half of 2014. Greece - seen by many as the epicenter of the Europe's sovereign debt crisis - took over the EU Presidency from Lithuania at the start of the New Year 2014. The presidency means that Athens becomes an important venue for high-level EU meetings this year. At the same time, the country is still struggling to deal with the worst financial crisis in its relatively short history as a democracy. Unemployment in the country runs at about 27 percent. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has said the country will remain focused on its principal goals of saving, encouraging growth and combating illegal immigration. Meanwhile, its budget for holding the EU Presidency - at some 50 million euros - is the lowest in the history of the bloc-wide role.