Brookings Institution
August 6, 2013
Introduction
The crisis Greece has been going through has been one of the most serious challenges any country, anywhere, has faced in peace-time. It has also had a big impact on Europe. A successful Greek recovery is crucial, not only for Greece itself, but for the whole of Europe and the eastern Mediterranean region. Greece has and can continue to have a stabilizing role in the region, and has played this role particularly effectively after George Papandreou and the late Ismail Cem, when they were both foreign ministers, brought about much friendlier relations between Greece and Turkey. Greece has also always had very important relations with the United States, with a vibrant Greek-American community constituting a crucial link between the two nations. As Greece is implementing very difficult reforms, support from the United States for Greece's recovery is more important than ever.
As this collection of papers assembled by ELIAMEP shows, the Greek people have shown much courage over the last four years. The adjustment in the balance of payments and in the fiscal accounts has been dramatic. Progress has also been made with the even more difficult and perforce time-consuming structural reforms. On that front, much remains to be done.
We are very happy to post this excellent set of short papers on our Brookings website, within the Global Economy and Development program, at the time of the visit of Prime Minister Samaras to Washington and we are grateful to ELIAMEP for giving us this opportunity.
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