With 30,000 homes a day cut off for unpaid bills by the state, corruption has become a matter of survival for many Greeks
Greece Slips to 94th in Corruption Index as Austerity Makes It EU’s Weakest Link
With 30,000 homes a day cut off for unpaid bills by the state, corruption has become a matter of survival for many Greeks
On top of the litany of woes that have befallen Greece, comes the news that the eurozone’s weakest link is also its most corrupt. From holding 80th place in the 176 countries on Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index in 2011, Greece’s global ranking, this year, fell to 94, the global watchdog announced on Wednesday. In terms of perceived levels of public corruption, Greece was on a par with Moldova and Mongolia. In the 27-strong EU, there was no other state that fared worse.
For economic experts who were surveyed for the report, the finding will be further proof that Greece is not just an economic basket case that is only barely keeping bankruptcy at bay but entrenched in a crisis of values that, like its debt drama, refuses to go away.
For Costas Bakouris, who spends his time exclusively monitoring corrupt practices as the head of Transparency International’s Greek chapter, the survey underscores the desperate need for the nation at the heart of Europe’s financial mess to organise a fresh political way of operating.
“We need to create a political system where politicians care more about the fate of the country than themselves,” he told the Guardian.