Greeks doubt polls will change deeply ingrained social ills
Nearly all Greeks have a personal tale to tell about the bribery-oriented mentality that pervades day-to-day dealings in the country. And few doubt that a legislative election to be held Sunday will do anything to change a tradition that has survived generations of government pledges to tackle the problem. «If you’re ready to pay, you can do anything,» said Thomas, a young Greek who recently oiled the wheels of the state to obtain a driving license. «I had failed my driving test, but I was told to pay money through an intermediary and I got my license in just 10 days.» Whether to secure a permit for an illegal building, erase tax debts, skip long lines for a hospital operation or book an appointment with a popular doctor, Greeks know that it is best to have a «fakelaki» (little envelope) of cash handy to cut through red tape. «Greeks prefer to pay to get ahead in life, that’s the mentality,» said Leandros Rakintzis, Greece’s general inspector of public administration. Created in 2002 to monitor the performance of Greece’s bloated civil service, Rakintzis’s department has found that corruption is worst at town-planning and tax offices. Greece currently ranks 54th on watchdog Transparency International’s world rankings of corrupt nations, just ahead of Costa Rica and Namibia. Even the private sector is not exempt. «The fight against corruption is a question of culture,» Rakintzis told AFP. «Few citizens ever blow the whistle on such practices, and among the few who do, most are unable to provide adequate proof. As a result, the cases are usually shelved,» he noted. Ilias, an agronomist who declined to give his last name, had to wait a year before Greek justice ruled in his favor over a complaint. He had passed an exam for a posting advertised by the Agriculture Ministry only to be pushed aside in favor of another candidate who was not even qualified for the job, he said. «I was lucky, but there are others who do not have the courage to fight for their rights,» Ilias said. The problem with institutions in Greece is that «they never acquired the maturity seen elsewhere in Europe because of the country’s tormented history,» said economist Christos Tsougaris, referring to the civil war of 1944-1949 and the right-wing dictatorship of 1967-74. The present conservative government came to power in 2004 with promises to tackle the problem, but was soon facing corruption cases among its own party officials. The most recent scandal involved social insurance funds that lost millions of euros buying allegedly overpriced bonds, an affair which cost the minister of labor his job in April. And, according to the opposition, the government’s decision to call early elections on September 16 is partly linked to the case.
