Greece and the European Union

Greece is a full-fledged member of the European Economic & Monetary Union within the broader European Union. It took 40 years of hard efforts to achieve this goal.

In 1959 the Greek government officially requested the country's association with the then European Economic Community.

In 1961 an Association Agreement was signed between EEC and Greece which became effective a year later.

In 1975 Greece applied to the EEC for full membership.

In 1976 negotiations between the European Community and Greece began.

The Accession Agreement was signed in Athens on May 28, 1979 and on January 1, 1981 Greece became EEC's 10th member-state.

At all these five stages Constantine Karamanlis was Prime Minister of Greece. 
In 2001 Greece joined the Economic and Monetary Union established two years earlier. As of January 1, 2002 the Greek drachma has been replaced by the Euro, the common monetary unit in the 12 EMU countries.
As a full member of the European Union Greece is represented in all EU institutions. It has 25 members in the European Parliament, a Commissioner in the European Commission, a judge in the European Court etc.

More Contemporary

After Kapodistrias' assassination, the three "Protecting Powers", Great Britain, France and Russia, selected 17-year old prince Otto, second son of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, as king of Greece.

King George's reign began with a good omen: as a kind of dowry, Great Britain yielded the Ionian islands to Greece- the first addition of territory since independence.

Immediately after the start of World War I a fundamental dispute between King Constantine and Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos erupted over the question of Greece's participation in it.

The outbreak of World War II in 1939 found Greece under an authoritative regime headed by Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas, whose intention was to keep Greece out of the hostilities.