[en] In a speech delivered on the occasion of the signing of an association agreement between Greece and the EEC in July 1961, the Vice President of the European Commission, Jean Rey, asked “What country more than Greece, which people more than the Greek people were worthy of becoming the Community’s first associate?” This article offers an overview of Greece’s participation in the European construction process. It seeks to assess the claim according to which this participation had political significance, not just for Greece itself, but also in what concerned some aspects of Europe’s political configuration. To this end, it draws upon current historiography, which has in recent years increasingly taken an interest in the Greek case. An overview inspired by the discussions contained in the most recent studies allows one to historically evaluate the place occupied by Greece in the process of European integration since the signature of its association agreement in 1961.
[University of Luxembourg > Luxembourg Center for Contemporary and Digital History (C2DH) > >]
