Politicians are abundant in Greece, but the lack of a statesman is obvious. The Greek people are aware of this, indeed.

Last Monday I was in Athens. It was only twenty-four hours after the Greek parliament had approved the austerity package. I had seen online the photos of Starbucks aflame the day before, right before I was going to bed in Brussels. The day after, however, Athens in the dark was tranquil. The Acropolis was as gorgeous as always. On the Athens-Pireas road, in the Plaka, there was no chaos. Athens is too big to turn into a bedlam with a few demonstrations. Lately, I have been reading some articles on how Greece has been ruined within the European Union (EU). Today, let me write my impressions about Greece briefly and touch upon how Greece benefits from being a member of the EU. When I saw the extremely neat highways in Athens, I recalled an anecdote about Greece that has been cited frequently on the Internet and which summarizes the state of affairs in there today. So, let me begin with that.

After Greece became a member to the EU, the mayor of a small town paid a visit to a peer town in Spain, with the aim of learning about their experience and knowledge. In other words, to learn “how to benefit best from the EU.” When they arrived at the Spanish town, the mayor saw a gigantic city hall and admired the building. He asked his Spanish peer, “How were you able to build this gigantic hall in such a small town as yours?” Spanish mayor said, “It was easy. Do you see the bridge over there?” He pointed at a bridge that spanned the river not far from the city hall. “That bridge was planned and projected to be a two-lane, double way road. The grant was decided accordingly. But then we built a one-lane road and attached a warning side. It works perfectly this way. We used the funds we spared to build the city hall.”

The Greek delegation, which was now more informed and experienced, returned home. A year later, they invited their Spanish peers to pay a visit. They noticed the city hall, which was palatial, gigantic and much more gorgeous then theirs. They asked, “How were you able to build such a masterpiece?” The Greek mayor said, “That was easy.” He pointed at a river near the building and said, “Do you see the bridge over there?” Spanish delegation responds, “No, we don’t.”

I believe that this anecdote points to the reality of Greece, and that the EU has contributed to this outcome. At the beginning of the week, I mentioned the challenges about austerity packages which are not embraced by a domestic political actor and said, “It is unfortunate that Papademos is not like Ecevit.” Given the current state of affairs in Greece, it is like the burden is being shouldered by Papademos while the harm is being done by someone else. Indeed, on Wednesday morning, PASOK and New Democracy leaders had not sent letters saying, “We completely support the austerity measures.” The last one was received from the leader of the New Democracy. It read, “If we win the next election, we will change this program. Recovery is our priority.” I am insisting for a reason that “life is hard for Papademos.” There is an abundance of politicians in Greece, but the lack of a statesman is evident. The Greek people are aware of this, indeed.

So, is being a member to the EU still beneficial for Greece? I think so. For example, youth employment in Greece is around 50 percent currently. Overall unemployment is 21 percent. What do the youth do in response? They move to the emerging regions of Europe. German courses are quite popular in both Greece and Spain, nowadays. This is enabled by the free circulation within the EU. Is this bad? Not at all. From this perspective, the crisis does not decelerate but accelerates “the Europeanization process.” The number of new Europeans who do not work in their homelands is increasing. Good for the European project.

This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 17.02.2012