Greece's Mediterranean Perspective and the French Initiative

Abstract

  After the europeanization of Greco-Turkish relations in the mid-1990s, the Mediterranean has gradually become a rediscovered land of opportunity for Greek policy-makers, representing an embodiment of a long-standing view that Greece has to strike a balance between its European, Balkan and Mediterranean foreign policy priorities. Initially, by building on the European Union's regional approach and, more recently, by supporting the French Mediterranean initiative, numerous opportunities have arisen for Greece to upgrade its regional profile, including a new parameter in Greco-Turkish relations. This article examines Greece's increased involvement in changing Euro-Mediterranean agenda by assessing both the challenges and the opportunities that the new initiative generates for the country's strategic and economic interests. It concludes with thoughts on future action in the newly instituted framework, both regarding cooperative projects of higher value for Greece and in view of further contributing to the wider process of systematizing regional relations.