HISTORICAL DICTIONARIES OF EUROPE Jon Woronoff, Series ...

xlvi • INTRODUCTION
(FYROM) and has tried to accommodate its neighbor’s national
identity. Overall, Greece has supported the accession of southeastern
Europe into the EU and the completion of the European project both
geographically and institutionally. As Greece has moved closer to the
European core, it has become an ardent Eurofederalist. Put simply, for
Greece, the more Europe the better.
At the same, Greece has lent its support to Turkey’s European vocation
and strives to engage rather than confront it, while supporting
United Nations efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem. Turkey remains
Greece’s first and foremost strategic challenge. It is not only that Turkey
is by far the largest and richest of Greece’s neighbors; it is also
that the antagonism with Turkey after 1955 complicated greatly and
unnecessarily the modernization of Greece and negatively affected its
political development. Fear of Turkey increased Greece’s insecurity
and siege mentality, and created fertile ground for the growth of a
defensive, xenophobic, and antimodernist nationalism. Turning this antagonism
into a partnership will not only be beneficial economically but
will also partially liberate Greece (and Turkey) from a political culture
that holds back the country. For this reason, the successful conclusion
of the Greek policy of rapprochement with Turkey forms a cornerstone
for any program of modernization and reform in Greece.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
After 30 years of rapid growth, Greece stagnated in the 1980s and
diverged from the European average. More recently, Greece has been
catching up and today real per capita income has come close to 90
percent of the EU average. Despite this wealth, which is evident in the
consumerist lifestyle enjoyed by the expanding Greek middle class,
many of the country’s economic, political, and social structures remain
archaic and traditional.
It is worth remembering that manufacturing constitutes only 10 percent
of the economy, which is one of the lowest ratios in the developed
world. Greek exports are minimal, with a value of less than $25billion a
year, or one fifteenth of Belgium’s, a country of similar size (see graph
5 in appendix F). The rate of employment, or the active population as a
percentage of the total, is among the lowest in Europe; less than half of
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