Britain and Northern Greece in the twentieth century : Greek accession and prospects for the European Union

Abstract

In the 1970s the European Economic Community’s “Mediterranean Policy” recognised that the countries of the Mediterranean were neighbours,
significant trading partners and, in some cases, future Members. The Association Agreement between the EEC and Greece had been concluded in 1961.
This paved the way for full membership. However, events in Greece in April
1967 obliged the Community to suspend the Agreement. The return to
democracy in 1974 resuscitated the Association Agreement and Greece applied
for membership in June 1975. The EEC Commission had reservations about the application, but in the end recommended a positive response in January 1976. This was agreed by Ministers a month later. The subsequent negotiations succeeded in overcoming serious obstacles and the Treaty of Accession was signed in Athens in May 1979. In the years since then the Treaties of Maastricht and Amsterdam have slowly moved the Community, now the Union, forward. A programme for the accession of new Members in southern and eastern Europe has been agreed and careful thought now has to be given to the role of the enlarged European Union in the future global village.