Download Discussion Paper: “Greece: Like any other European Country

Discussion Paper: “Greece: Like any other European Country?”
The author of the article Loukas Tsoukalis brings up several points including
Greece’s distinct place in European culture, its geographical closeness to the Balkans, its
recent adoption of a democratic system (1974), and its still developing economy to paint
a picture of the differences between it and its EU partners. These differences led to the
placing of Greece along one of the fault lines on European continent by Samuel
Huntington, who argues that the clash of civilizations will replace the struggle between
capitalism and communism. However, the author argues that this gap was closing due to
reforms and progress of Greece in many areas. First, the Greek democracy has proved
stable for the past 30 years with smooth transitions and domestic politics has become
“less polarized and personalized-and perhaps verging on the boring for the taste of some
Greeks.” Next, after reforms to the economic sector with the scaling down of the
protection of clientele groups and privatization, the Greek economy is catching up with
the EU in terms of inflation rates and budget deficits. The recent governments have made
joining the European monetary union a top priority and have been endorsed by the major
parties in Greek politics. However, the Greek democracy is lacking in some areas due to
the lack of state institutions that are not biased as clientele groups still hold influence
over the political system. Tsoulaklis points out the lack of civic involvement as the
reason for the “all-expansive” nature of the government. In addition, the GDP of Greece
has not yet reached the levels of its EU partners due to continuing privatization and
industrialization. Greece is also forced to deal with the non EU-countries in the Balkans
that have served as a source for instability to the region and have caused considerable
strain in its efforts to conform to EU policies.
The evolution of the Greek relationship with the EU brings up several issues that
will be faced by the countries in Eastern Europe joining the EU in the near future. How
will recently established democratic institutions hold under new policies of integration in
an area with communist governments until 10 years ago? Also, Western Europe had a
common lifestyle and thus shared cultural elements due to similar levels of prosperity.
How will the new members with still developing economies cope with the competition
and cultural infusion of Western Europe? The Greek example can be used to predict the
outcomes of some of the questions posed and the position that the new countries will find
themselves in the EU. There will be a differentiation between the newcomers and old
members based on the political, economic and cultural aspects. It will be harder for them
to adjust due to the lack of economic aid on the scale provided to Greece, Spain and
Portugal due to the number of new entrants. Also, the political systems in some of these
countries might not be able to adjust as the Greek political system did due to the
competitiveness posed by the Western industries and the strain this causes on domestic
industries. Finally, instituting EU policies such as the environmental policies might pose
a challenge to countries developing industrially and might lead to the addition of
footnotes, marking exceptions, to EU decisions just as Greece required.
The author’s evaluation of Greek’s place in Europe provides a thorough and
rational explanation of the policies Greece has undertaken in the past twenty years. He
gives a detailed description of the security threats that Greece has faced due to the
disintegration of Yugoslavia and provides the reasoning behind Greece’s deviating
foreign policies from NATO on handling issues. He however, does not delve into the
impact the integration with EU has had on Greek culture with the development of a new
lifestyle and infusion of Western European goods and companies. He provides a view of
the accommodation of the institutions of Greece with integration and how the EU has
responded to these changes but not the ways in which the individuals and masses have
responded to the assimilation. Finally, he brings up another interesting topic: the
challenge the countries with borders with non-EU countries face in constructing foreign
policies that deal with them and the members in different perspectives: one nationalistic
and the other European. His analysis of Greece on this subject provides some light on the
issues the new members are going to face with unstable borders.