Greece: A Critical Assessment of Europeanization

Abstract

The EU was never more prominent in Greece than during the economic crisis that began in 2008 and made the Greek polity, policies, and politics a topic of heated debate in the national parliaments and media of all other EU member states. In early 2010, the Greek government successfully negotiated a mechanism that would provide rescue packages to ailing EU member-state economies to guarantee the financial stability of the Eurozone; and Greece became the first country to request the bilateral International Monetary Fund (IMF)-EU package (Gemenis 2010a; Tsarouhas 2012). The response of the Greek public seemed paradoxical, revealing a plurality that rejected the bailout agreement but which, at the same time, was in favor of remaining in the Eurozone (Tsebelis 2012). This seeming paradox can be understood by looking at the context in which attitudes toward European integration are formed in Greece—which can be understood as a struggle between pro-EU modernizers and adherents to what Diamandouros (1993) calls the “underdog culture” who, among other things, lament the loss of sovereignty to the EU.