page_title: Konstantinos Karamanlis
section_title: European vision
hierarchical_section_title: Konstantinos Karamanlis / First premiership / European vision
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Collectie / Archief&#160;: Fotocollectie Anefo Reportage / Serie&#160;: [ onbekend ] Beschrijving&#160;: Griekse Minister-President bezoeken gebracht aan voorzitt Eerste en Tweede Kamer . Minister-President Caramanlis l bloemen bij het betreden van het gebouw / Datum&#160;: 1 maart 1963 Trefwoorden&#160;: BLOEMEN, bezoeken, gebouwen, ministers Persoonsnaam&#160;: Caramanlis Instellingsnaam&#160;: Tweede Kamer Fotograaf&#160;: Pot, Harry / Anefo Auteursrechthebbende&#160;: Nationaal Archief Materiaalsoort&#160;: Negatief (zwart/wit) Nummer archiefinventaris&#160;: bekijk toegang 2.24.01.05 Bestanddeelnummer&#160;: 914-8832
context_page_description: Konstantinos G. Karamanlis, commonly anglicised to Constantine Karamanlis or just Caramanlis, was a four-time Prime Minister and twice President of the Third Hellenic Republic, and a towering figure of Greek politics, whose political career spanned much of the latter half of the 20th century.
  The longest serving Prime Minister of modern Greek history, during his first term he applied a program of rapid industrialization, heavy investment on infrastructure and improvement on agricultural production, which led to the post-war Greek economic miracle. He implemented also the extension of full voting rights to women, which stood dormant since 1952.
  In his second term, after 1974, he is recognised for his successful restoration of Democracy after the Greek military junta and by establishing the Third Hellenic Republic, bringing an end to continuous military coups and political instability of around half a century.
  A devoted pro-Europeanist, he is credited also for the country's accession to the European Communities. In 1978 he was awarded the Charlemagne Prize.
  His supporters lauded him as the charismatic Ethnarches.
context_section_description: Karamanlis as early as 1958 pursued an aggressive policy toward Greek membership in the EEC. He considered Greece's entry into the EEC a personal dream because he saw it as the fulfillment of what he called "Greece's European Destiny". He personally lobbied European leaders, such as Germany's Konrad Adenauer and France's Charles de Gaulle followed by two years of intense negotiations with Brussels. His intense lobbying bore fruit and on 9 July 1961 his government and the Europeans signed the protocols of Greece's Treaty of Association with the European Economic Community (EEC). The signing ceremony in Athens was attended by top government delegations from the six-member bloc of Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands, a precursor of the European Union. Economy Minister Aristidis Protopapadakis and Foreign Minister Evangelos Averoff were also present. German Vice-Chancellor Ludwig Erhard and Belgian Foreign Minister Paul-Henri Spaak, a European Union pioneer and a Karlspreis winner like Karamanlis, were among the European delegates.
  This had the profound effect of ending Greece's economic isolation and breaking its political and economic dependence on US economic and military aid, mainly through NATO. Greece became the first European country to acquire the status of associate member of the EEC outside the six nation EEC group. In November 1962 the association treaty came into effect and envisaged the country's full membership at the EEC by 1984, after the gradual elimination of all Greek tariffs on EEC imports. A financial protocol clause included in the treaty provided for loans to Greece subsidised by the community of about $300 million between 1962 and 1972 to help increase the competitiveness of the Greek economy in anticipation of Greece's full membership. The Community's financial aid package as well as the protocol of accession were suspended during the 1967–74 junta years and Greece was expelled from the EEC. As well, during the dictatorship, Greece resigned its membership in the Council of Europe fearing embarrassing investigations by the Council, following torture allegations.
  Soon after returning to Greece during metapolitefsi Karamanlis reactivated his push for the country's full EEC membership in 1975 citing political and economic reasons. Karamanlis was convinced that Greece's membership in the EEC would ensure political stability in a nation having just undergone a transition from dictatorship to Democracy.
  In May 1979 he signed the full treaty of accession. Greece became the tenth member of the EEC on 1 January 1981 three years earlier than the original protocol envisioned and despite the freezing of the treaty of accession during the junta (1967–1974).
caption: During a visit to the Netherlands, 1963
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