How times have changed. Greece was a basket case when it entered the then European Community in 1981. It was propelled in, partly under American pressure (sounds familiar?), before many people, including the European Commission, thought it was ready. During the first three years of membership, an army of Commission officials shuttled between Brussels and Athens to coax, cajole and bully the Greek administration into implementing EC policies and giving up centuries-old Levantine practices and habits.
http://www.erabrussels.be/information/e ... e_pace.htm
Along with this Greece was rated as being tyhe most racist country in the world with second place going to..........yes you guessed it, France. I have posted these both before and if you want egg on your face ask again.
Does this sound familiar as well.
When the government of Costas Simitis took over the presidency on January 1st, Greece had just ended a year as the fastest-growing economy in the EU. The coming year promises a replay. In 2001 – to general surprise – Greece earned its way into the euro zone. It is as a self-confident core member that the Greek government will put on the style in Athens on April 16th when present and new EU members formally sign the enlargement deal negotiated at the Copenhagen summit last month.
Turkey the fastest growing economy just outside the EU.
As for the break up of Turkey.....You can live in hope and stay there.
The most important thing to remember about the "Macedonian conflict" is that the Greek position has changed dramatically over the past decade. Official Greek government policy was that Macedonia did not exist. When Greece took over Aegean Macedonia in 1913, they killed, tortured and ethnically cleansed hundreds of thousands of Macedonians. They changed the names of people, villages, and landmarks from Macedonian to Greek in their attempts to eradicate the Macedonian name.
http://www.makedonija.info/propaganda.html
Macedonians are Greek
Turkish Cypriots are not Greek and we will fight this fight before the fact and not after.