Early in the course of his first period as Prime Minister, Konstantinos Karamanlis embarked on a policy of integrating Greece into a united Europe, with the country becoming an Associate in 1961 and full entrance to the European Economic Community arriving in 1979.
This policy was dictated by his perception of how Greece's needs could best be served, but also by the conviction that there was a more general need for the peoples of Europe to come together to form a single political entity. He had from the outset expressed his belief that a common final direction of political union for the European partners would have to be more clearly expressed and engraved on the field of political affairs. A pre-condition for progress towards this ultimate goal was, in his view, raised awareness and constant affirmation of the shared political and cultural identity of Europeans. The ideals of peace, freedom, democracy and humanism were, for him, the fundamental components of the European idea, but also the criteria that determined the geographical frontiers and the strategic aims of the continent. Europe, he maintained, was not a temporary political grouping, but nor was it an "abstract geographical concept" or a medley of geographical districts covering the national states of the region. It was a "living and pulsating" reality, and "embodies a philosophy and a way of life". The economy had to be organised around the people, not the people around the economy.
Europe had to play a leading role at the heart of the international community, he stressed. In the unity of its peoples he foresaw the advancement of freedom, peace and progress - not only of Europeans themselves but of "all the peoples of the earth" and the hope of a "new renaissance". Europe had to represent moderation, offering the certainty of balance at a political level and giving a positive outlet to international disquiet from the position of a leading political and moral power.
To the extent that the necessary brave steps were not taken towards integration, Karamanlis was possessed by increasing and more intense anxiety, denouncing the nationalist prejudice and self-interest that bred barren competition and inhibited progress. These steps were monetary union, the creation of a common defence and foreign policy as a precondition for security and independence, the strengthening and/or reform of the highest institutions of the European Community, and the ultimate surrender of some sovereign rights by Karamanlis to secure immediate and urgent priorities. Concerned about their protracted introduction, in 1993 he noted the symptoms of the weakness that - at an increased level - plagued Europe up to the end of the 1990s: "While around but also within Europe instability and uncertainty prevail, the continent appears unwilling to play the role that the circumstances and problems of the region have thrust upon it."
