Greece in the years of Europe
This year marks 40 years since Greece’s accession to the European Union and the European Commission notes that in these decades of European course our country has been transformed. Thus, when Konstantinos Karamanlis signed the Treaty of Accession of the Hellenic Republic to the then EEC, on May 28, 1979, he had the deep conviction that it determined the future of the country and sealed the fate of Greek citizens through the implementation of a central policy of strategic decision . But who imagined that, at that moment, the foundations of a barrage of material and intangible infrastructure were being laid at the same time, which, in unrepeatably short historical and natural time, changed the face of the country and redefined the perceptions and culture of the Greeks, ensuring their national identity. . identity and uniqueness?
– from the cases that ensured the disposal of drinking water in every house in Crete and the efficient management of waste on the island, to the reinforcement of small and very small products and the protection of archaeological treasures in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace,
– from the new state-of-the-art high-speed patrol boats of the Greek Navy in the Ionian Islands, to the specially designed small ambulances in the islands of the South Aegean,
– from the construction and modernization of hospitals and other health structures in Western Greece, to aid to the primary and dynamic tourism sector of the Peloponnese,
– from the intellect and construction of modern highways in Thessaly and Western Macedonia, to the electrical interconnection of the Cyclades with each other and finally, with the hinterland,
– from the emblematic infrastructure of the Athens metro and the Rio bridge, to the modern schools and educational complexes throughout Greece,
– from EODY mobile phones, which organize the country and fight the pandemic, to the repayable advance and the financing of social security contributions, which kept Greek companies upright in recent years and ensured a return to growth
– from guarantees for working capital loans and interest subsidies to small businesses, to strong financial support to Greece to deal with previous refugee waves from the east.
From 1981 until today, in just 40 years, something more than just a generation, the Greeks have experienced and continue to experience the results of that signature that Konstantinos Karamanlis put in that voluminous volume of the accession treaty. We have always been Europe and that signature, whose ink has not yet dried, has made us participants and co-creators of what we now officially call the European Way of Life.