Greece and EMU: Between External Empowerment and Domestic Vulnerability

EMU was an agenda determined outside Greece and it represents the importation of a radical new policy paradigm. In gaining entry into the ‘euro’ system, EMU has been the stimulus to profound change in Greek macroeconomic policy. However, the developing EU agenda on structural reform highlights the dilemmas of policy‐making in Athens: the uncertain political commitment; the domestic vetoes from rent‐seeking behaviour; and the imprecise external constraint. Threee central questions are raised here. What were the Greek priorities and expectations at the time of negotiating EMU? How did Greece qualify for entry into the euro system?. And how has Greece responded to the post‐Maastricht EU agenda on structural reform? These questions relate to fundamental issues of the contemporary Greek state: the capability to bring about reform; the political and cultural impediments to reform by consensus; and the challenges posed by deeper ‘Europeanization’. For the EU, the Greek case raises issues of relevance to the cohesion of the euro area and the management of the enlargement process.