Greece joined the eec in 1981 , the same year that he became prime minister , and subsequently the greek government created a client state in which direct subsidies and transfers from the eec were supplemented by easy loans from western european banks .
This is a situation that is strongly reminiscent of the golden age of yugoslavia ( 1981-1986 ) , a period when it came close to joining the european economic community ( eec ) .
It was only after entry to the eec , and later the eurozone , that younger , more affluent , better-travelled greeks grew up comfortable with the thought that they were as european as the germans or dutch .
Almost since the italian eec presidency called an " inter-governmental conference " against mrs thatcher 's wishes in june 1985 , part of the eu agenda has been about negotiating or ratifying new treaties .