The politics of differentiated integration : what do governments want? : country report : Greece

Abstract

Two main questions regarding differentiated integration (DI) in Greece are the focus of the report, how salient was DI for Greek governments and what positions Greek governments have on DI. First, the salience analyses show that differentiated integration (DI) was a low salience issue in Greece during most of the years in this analysis. Parliamentary debates were the most likely arena for discussions on DI. By contrast, references to DI in government programmes, prime minister speeches and European Council statements were sometimes relevant. Second, the positions of Greek governments with regard to DI were determined by considerations of how Greece was positioned regarding EU membership before and after the economic crisis. Before the crisis, as a member of the eurozone and following EU policies and directives in the fields of defence, taxation and justice and security, Greece belonged to core Europe. During the crisis, Greek governments, especially the SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government, were concerned that this approach jeopardised the Greek path to recovery and would ultimately hurt the national interest. This dilemma made the Greek position highly context-dependent and pragmatic: the expressed desire to remain at the ‘core of Europe’ did not always correspond with actual policy choices.