How long has greece been in the eu

After throwing off the regime of the colonels and restoring democracy, Greece applied to join the European Community in It was not greeted with open arms. But strategic concerns won out. And it worked. Greece was the model, Spain and Portugal followed, joining in But Greece was also a warning: levels of corruption were worse than the European average, the state was poor at collecting taxes. Dominating the news these days are university professors, public employee groups such as ministry employees, judges, lawyers, teachers and doctors.

They have become so powerful that they have been able to resist most proposed reforms by instigating an endless cycle of conflict and strikes. The phenomenon was augmented by virtual immunity from the law even for those perpetrating the gravest of crimes. Acting with impunity 28 is a way of life in Greece, and at the basic level people are assured of being able to live so on political grounds. Alivizatos argues that Greek parliamentarians do not have any viable strategy for the institutional reform of the country.

Sklias and Maris argue that Greece tries to adopt the European acquis communautaire and other European directives but has trouble successfully implementing them. As a result, capacity diminished in public administration at a time when the government gladly accepted more responsibilities to implement EU directives. Attempts to realign capacity to responsibility failed because of resistance by the same public sector employees whom politicians hired in the first place.

The fear of losing benefits in a non-meritocratic system took away any incentives on the part of employees of all political persuasions to accept possible losses, even when they agreed with reforms. At the end, some symbolic changes were made to keep EU funds flowing without getting at the root of the problem. It was based on capital created by the liberalization of certain sectors, mainly telecommunications and banking. Graph 1. Even multinational corporations had to pay bribes to gain access to the Greek market.

A good example is the Siemens debacle in which the German corporation paid nearly all political parties to gain special favors and contracts during the Olympic Games and equipment procurement by Greek Telecom OTE.

Graph 2. The answer is unfortunately both disheartening and surprising. Since , incoming governments and the European Commission repeatedly expressed distrust over Greek figures due to lack of administrative capacity.

Public rebuke would have lowered Greek ability to borrow at advantageous interest rates, decreasing profits of key government supporters in those countries. As long as everyone agreed on deeper integration in politically highly contentious areas, such as European Monetary Union EMU , individual governments were allowed to maintain their national systems with any accompanying flaws. Political leaders not only broker compromises among competing social interests but they also set the tone on how to tackle societal problems and help voters think through diverse perspectives on problems, debate difficult choices, and provide deliberative processes and democratic forums.

Because leaders exercise the coercive power of the state, they must also demonstrate they are using it fairly. It is most illuminating to look at the writings of Nikos Christodoulakis, former Minister of Finance and Development. He starts his book by highlighting the important challenges for Greece to achieve complete convergence with the EU: 1 restructuring the Greek universities and allowing foreign universities to operate in Greece; 2 improving Greek competitiveness in the business sector; 3 restructuring the agricultural sector; and 4 simplifying public administration.

He finally blames ND for the explosion of the Greek Debt in Kostas Simitis, Socialist Prime Minister from to , elevated the notion of modernization to the highest possible level and was both praised and derided for his obsession with the term. He seems to consider the Olympic Games as a focal point of economic development, and warns his detractor and opposition forces to modernizing Greece that he would fight them.

To say that you want the country to be modernized is one thing; to achieve it, is quite another. What matters is how one goes about implementing needed measures. In this area, he, and others before and after him, failed miserably.

He promised to improve the economy, stamp out widespread corruption and promote a more transparent and effective state administration. Rising unemployment and inflation, inability to reform higher education, an inept response to wildfires in and failure to control protracted violence following the shooting of a year-old in December lowered expectations and damaged his standing at the polls.

The financial audit of the Greek economy in failed to yield the expected results. It increased political tension by predictably blaming the previous socialist government for the economic mess, but it also undermined Greek credibility among EU allies.

Even during the current economic crisis, Greek leaders have succeeded in living up to low expectations. Seeking reelection, politicians are acutely aware of constituent demands. It reflects reality, but it also throws everyone in the same pot and distributes blame equally to all participants. And when everyone is to blame, no one is at fault. Quite the contrary, good leaders have an obligation to frame issues, explain alternatives, and make tough and occasionally politically costly decisions.

Comparisons with other small European economies might also help to evaluate Greek development. In particular, Ireland seems to be a relevant example. In the s Ireland had the reputation of poor economic policies and an inferior economic development.

At the beginning of the s Ireland started an economic turnaround. Today, Ireland has a very good reputation for sound economic policies and is the high-growth economy in Europe. Does the Greek convergence process match this pattern of economic stabilization? As Figures 4 and 5 indicate, Greece is currently in a process of economic convergence that is very similar to the earlier experiences of Ireland.

Taking as the reference year t 0 , Greece has considerably reduced the inflation rate as well as the fiscal deficit within a similar time period. Obviously Ireland and Greece cannot be compared directly as both countries differ in their economic structure and the circumstances under which the stabilization process was implemented.

In particular, it is not possible to predict the future development of Greek economic polices. However, the comparison gives some indication that Greece is on an economic policy path that has successfully been completed by an economy with similar policy problems in the past. The Greek aim of EMU membership was made possible by a substantial macroeconomic adjustment process during the s. A tight monetary policy and an increasingly restrictive fiscal policy enabled Greece to comply with the convergence criteria in the year and to join the EMU.

It remains to be seen whether Greece can keep this macroeconomic discipline and whether it is going to continue the necessary liberalizations on the microeconomic level. The restrictions on autonomous national economic policies call for further deregulation of the Greek economy. The completion of the common market and greater mobility of capital and labor put additional pressure on Greece to reform its economy.

The Greek government has responded to these developments. It has announced that it will open the markets for telecommunication end of and energy according to Community law. It also plans to deregulate the markets for transport and the labor and financial markets and to privatize additional public enterprises. The government also plans to redirect state expenditure from public consumption to more productive fields such as research and development or education and training.

On the external side a possible stabilization in the Balkans could have particularly positive effects on Greece. Whether the government is going to succeed with its plans will depend to large degree on the social acceptance of these measures.

Currently the political and social conditions are rather favorable. The Greek government and the most important political parties still support the continuing process of economic reform. It remains to be seen whether this consensus will hold when the negative short-run effects of the reform process become more visible than the positive long-run effects.

Yet, there is reason to be optimistic. Other small European economies such as Ireland have shown a remarkable ability for economic reform and Greece has demonstrated in the last years that it is willing to go in a similar direction. Current issue Volumes Authors. Data protection Imprint. Decades People Articles. The Convergence Criteria A country can only join EMU if it has achieved a "high degree of sustainable convergence" 9 with reference to the criteria on price stability, long-term interest rate, public finances, the exchange rate and a number of legal requirements, e.

Reports by the EU Commission and the European Central Bank have concluded that Greece had fulfilled these requirements by spring Table 1 : 10 Price stability: Greece recently entered a period of price stability.

In particular, inflation during the reference period of April to March was 2. However, the recent decline of inflation is partly due to temporary administrative effects, such as a reduction in indirect taxes and informal arrangements between the Greek government and enterprises to reduce selected retail prices.

Long-term interest rate: During the reference period the average Greek interest rate was 6. The reduction of the long-term interest rate can mainly be attributed to decreasing inflation differentials with EMU countries and the improvement of the government debt position. In addition, the prospect of imminent EMU membership has contributed further to the convergence of Greek interest rates to EMU levels as investors have moved from euro bonds into Greek securities.

Public finance: As defined in the Treaty on European Community a country fulfills this criterion if it does not have an "excessive deficit". If the fiscal deficit and debt are above the thresholds a country can nevertheless comply with the criterion, as long as deficit and debt are declining sufficiently fast towards these limit values.

In the reference year the Greek public deficit was 1. The debt ratio was As the debt ratio has been declining since , the European Council ECOFIN made the decision in November that Greece does not have an "excessive deficit" and is therefore in compliance with the public finance criterion. Benefits and Costs for Greece Greece has followed a restrictive stabilization policy in order to be admitted to the EMU.

Remaining Tasks The Greek aim of EMU membership was made possible by a substantial macroeconomic adjustment process during the s. PapaschinopouIou ed. Papaschinopoulou ed. Tsoukalis, op. Kotios, op. Bayoumi, B. Bureau, Y. Barro, D. Simitis, op.