A European Greece in a Europe that protects its people – Margaritis Schinas

An exclusive paper for ELIAMEP by Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President of the European Commission Promoting our European Way of Life, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Greece’s accession to the European Union.

Please find the paper here (in Greek).

2021 is the bicentenary of the modern Greek state, and the Greeks have every right to be proud and confident as they celebrate two centuries of freedom. Of course, it is also the 40th anniversary of Greece’s accession to the European Community, another key historical achievement, perhaps the most significant since the Rebirth of the Nation.

Membership of the United Europe changed everything for Greece, putting it forever at the forefront of European integration. But it also validated the European project with Greece’s cultural and historical identity.

Because the ideals and values that first saw the light of day in ancient Athens would inspire first the French revolution and then the American and Greek struggles for independence. Of course, they would also inspire the Fathers of Europe as they built upon the ashes left by World War Two.

European Greece is now an integral part of the most advanced model of democracy and society in the world. Greece has achieved as much in the 40 years in which it has been part of the core of Europe as it achieved in the previous 160 years of its modern history.

The Greeks are now Europeans who are proud—not guilty—to belong to the West.

The coronavirus pandemic, unprecedented in depth, intensity and extent, has cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of our fellow human beings and fundamentally changed the course of the world as we knew it. At the European level, it has led to historic decisions whose implementation is now in full swing. Europe’s response to the crisis represents an unprecedented leap of unification and solidarity; it confirms that the choices Greece made in the past were the right ones.

None of us are safe until we are all safe: this is the maxim that prompted us to reassess our framework for action at the EU level, and to build the framework for a European Union of Health and more. Along with shoring up public health, we also worked from the start to shore up the economy: with the European Multi-Annual Financial Framework (MFF) for the period 2021–2027 exceeding a trillion euro, and another 750 billlion euro within the NextGenerationEU, the Union has the means to support its citizens, regions and companies—particularly those most affected by the coronavirus crisis. Indeed, Greece will be the 4th most favoured country in proportion to the size of its economy, receiving over 40 billion Euro from the MFF.

Turning to immigration, Europe has the opportunity to finally obtain a durable, uniform, coherent policy for the first time in its history. Importantly for Greece, we are enacting strong but fair internal rules; rules that ensure that Member States under pressure will receive the support they need when they need it. We have taken on board the lessons of the past and turning the page on the old “Dublin” system, which placed a disproportionate burden on Member States of first entry, like Greece, and led to unacceptable and inhumane situations like the Moria camp, with a new system underpinned by our commitment to make solidarity and burden sharing the new norm.

In conclusion, a lot has changed over the four decades in which Greece and Europe have charted their common course. We has passed through a period of European “innocence” into one of European maturity in which we are aware both of our collective strength and of how much is at stake when we fail to employ that strength effectively.

Greece has already shown that it can play a leading role in this mature Europe. Its serious management of migration, cool-headed but firm positions on issues relating to the Eastern Mediterranean region, its axis of Friendship with the Gulf countries, its constructive stance in the Balkans and active involvement in the strategic  questions Europe has been called upon to answer, have made Greece a force to be reckoned with and a broker of future developments.

In this emblematic year of historic milestones and the ongoing pandemic crisis, European Greece has shown itself to be stronger, more coherent and more creative than before.