Twin issues that influence Hellenic polity

By K. K. Katyal

History and tradition are writ large in Athens - you can't miss major landmarks as you drive through the city. This is as it should be in the capital of a country known as the cradle of several architectural cultures and as the home to an ancient civilisation. But also evident now are the modern influences - not only through signs of a society turning consumerist, inevitable in this globalisation era, but also in the styles of new buildings - of hotels and the like - with their modernity in some cases, blending with the imposing grandeur of the museums, art galleries and theatres, in other cases, standing apart. The European profile of Greece is bound to get sharper and clearer from now onward - after all, it is a peninsula, jutting out from Europe's land mass into the Eastern Mediterranean, now integrated with the European Union.

Even a brief visit to Athens is enough to know what influences today's Greece - the biggest factor is its membership of the E.U. and another important issue is the state of its relationship with Turkey. These influences are clearly discernible in policy decisions, foreign and domestic. With Turkey, it is engaged in a dialogue from the beginning of 1999. Contrary to the belief outside Greece, it was not a case of earthquake diplomacy, starting as it did some months before a major natural disaster struck Turkey, evoking sympathy and support from Greece.

The membership of the E.U. and related issues have broad public support - with minor exceptions, all major parties in Parliament as well as public opinion, back closer integration with the grouping. The European dimension is considered vital for the country's future. Ironically, that was not the case in 1981 when Greece joined the Union as its tenth member. The majority of the political parties doubted the usefulness of this course for the country's troubled economy, severely hit by the recession of the seventies and the oil crises of 1973 and 1979.

Significantly, the Athens agreement of 1961, under which Greece began its two-decade transition to full membership, was frozen in April 1967 in the wake of the military coup in the country, to be revived seven years later after the restoration of parliamentary democracy. Implied in the suspension and revival of Greece's candidature for the E.U. was an important message - that its institutions will need to conform to the standards and the patterns of the Union. This process was already under way. As mentioned in an official publication - ``About Greece'', brought out by the Ministry of Press and Mass Media - ``membership of the E.U. had important consequences in the modus operandi of the political system. New and powerful institutions have been created. This is especially true of the Hellenic parliament. The policy style became more open.... Party political control over society seems to have been relaxed and patterns of clientelism minimised. The process of reducing the size of the State and its role in national economy is well under way.'' Particularly important is the government's plan for a clear demarcation of the functions of the Church and the State. The Prime Minister, Mr. Costas Simitis' ideas of giving a secular character to the State, in keeping with the E.U. orientations, have strained his relationship with the Orthodox Church. But the political stability of the government could well take care of this and other problems, like resistance to the policies of privatisation and liberalisation in the economic area. Mr. Simitis has another advantage - divisions in the ranks of the opposition.

From January 1, Greece is part of the economic and monetary union of the E.U. - and both the government and businessmen were happy about it. Also, for six years, from 2000, Greece could count on E.U. funding to the tune of $27 billion.

Ties with Turkey

Greece's relationship with Turkey is not quite smooth, what with the halting movement of the rapprochement process. Mr. Simitis does not see any slowdown in the efforts to sort out mutual differences. Perhaps, he has in mind the official-level contacts from June 1999. (A senior Foreign Office representative emphasised the talks had begun three to four months before the earthquake in Turkey).

As a result, the two sides signed nine agreements - among other subjects, on tourism, cultural exchanges, environment and illicit immigration.

Greece, it was pointed out, had acquainted Turkey with its experience of the processes, that had to be gone through by candidate countries for entry into the E.U. (Turkey is making a bid for it). Pointed attention was drawn by officials to Greece's gesture at the Helsinki summit of the E.U. in December 1999, when it did not exercise its veto on Turkey's candidature for the Union.

And the summit took a significant decision - on the unimpeded entrance of Cyprus into the E.U., without making it conditional on the solution of the problem of the island, caused by its division (as a result of Turkish invasion, according to Greece or because of the control of Turkish Cypriots on one portion, according to Turkey). Greece felt sore that Helsinki understanding on Cyprus was not being followed. But the main - and intractable - differences between Greece and Turkey relate to the delimitation of the continental shelf in the Aegean Sea, where there are a large number of Greek islands in the vicinity of Turkey. Greece insists on strict adherence to the international treaty on the law of seas in support of its claim to the 12-mile limit of territorial waters.

Apart from contesting that, Turkey opposes Greek military presence in the islands. The problem, it is clear, will continue to affect bilateral ties - with none too happy manifestations.

Although both Greece and Turkey are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, their perceptions of security interests differ widely.

(To be continued)

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