ABSTRACT
After his return from exile, Karamanlis emphasised his intention to apply for full membership of the EEC, and lodged an application in June 1975. Although opposed by the Communist Party and PASOK, this was a popular move because of the EEC’s prominent role in opposing the Junta. The fact that this was also the month in which a new constitution was voted through parliament indicated, as Susannah Verney pointed out, Karamanlis’s desire to establish the external orientation of the regime at the same time as its internal structure. 1 A new and urgent attraction of membership was that the EEC was a potential source of support against Turkey – support which would not compromise national independence and domestic stability as the American connection had done. During the following four years, Karamanlis was personally responsible for overcoming the quite considerable reservations of the EEC authorities about Greece’s readiness for membership, in view of the backwardness of its economy.
