Greece and the EEC : from association to membership

The prime objective of the thesis is to describe, analyse and evaluate the relations of Greece with the European Community with particular reference to the evolution of those relations during the last decade. The first section of the thesis presents a view of Greece's economy during the 1950's 1960's and early 1970's, assesses the reasons why Greece asked first for association with and then membership of the European Community and examines EEC-Greece relations since Association of 1962 up to 1975 with an emphasis placed on the period of dictatorship 1967-1974. The second section of the study investigates analytically the procedure of negotiations for Greece's membership with the EEC and focuses on the main features of the terms of the Agreement as well as in the agreed transitional measures. The third section covers the period 1981-1985 which was the first stage of the agreed transitional periods and presents Greece as a full member of the EEC. Particular attention is devoted to the PASOK, its principles, its elevation into Government and its subsequent behaviour and policy towards the European Community. The economic policy applied in Greece during these years is outlined as well as the role of the Community in the implementation of that policy. In that context the Greek Memorandum and the Community's response on this are also considered. Finally, the problem of the Trade Balance is discussed in some detail in order to assess first, the visible impact of the membership on foreign trade, an extremely vital sector for Greek interests and second to understand via this discussion the significant problems of the Greek economy that are related to the weakness of this sector