Widespread corruption in Greece is not just a matter of ethics and morality. It is also about money, lots of money, money that has been stolen from Greek families, money lost by the state that could have been used to build schools, roads, hospitals and other necessary infrastructure. Corruption is the theft of public property – it makes poor people even poorer and crooks rich.

In Greece, the administrative framework dedicated to the fight against corruption is very strong indeed. There are special services entrusted with eradicating graft, parliamentary committees and judicial authorities, and there are also laws.

The only problem is that these laws are not enforced and the result is that not only is existing corruption not being dealt with, but incentives are actually created for the cancerous spread of the phenomenon.

In matters of corruption, we should be applying the old adage that “all we need is one law, that the law must be enforced.”