Passing the buck
After every disaster, the habit of shifting responsibilities in many directions begins. If the government is new, it puts the blame on the previous one. If not, ministers dump it on their predecessors, or start (usually with leaks) pointing out the omissions of their colleagues. The latter is not difficult since the responsibilities of each body and ministry are extremely complex; each piece of legislation is signed by a dozen or so ministers.
Of course, the most common – and, above all, politically harmless – is to blame the local government. The classic argument is that “we gave them money, but they wasted it on fiestas and festivals.” This is likely true. The main concern of local officials, being politicians, is their re-election. Therefore, it is more productive (for their own ambitions) to offer “bread and circuses” to voters, instead of doing work that will be needed, according to Minister of State Makis Voridis, “once in 400 years.”
Even in the unlikely event that the money given to the regions is enough – usually when the local politician belongs to the governing party and, even more so, is favored by the respective minister – its squandering becomes extremely easy since its use is not inspected either from above or from below.
Most citizens feel that the money received by the local government is something like the European funds: Other people are paying
Inspection from above, favored by various former communists and current pseudo-liberals, means more bureaucracy: Paperwork will have to be moved from, for example, the flooded region of Karditsa to Athens, and vice versa; many things are forgotten in the drawers of employees, sometimes through negligence and sometimes through intent etc.
This in turn means delayed projects, but also increasing costs, not only because of bureaucracy, but because the more people involved in the decision-making process, the wider the circle of potential corruption.
There is no inspection from below either, since most citizens feel that the money received by the local government is something like the European funds: Other people are paying.
Since they feel that the money is not theirs, they don’t care what the local official does with it. They celebrate at fiestas and festivals, they reward the one who organizes more of them with their vote, and when disaster strikes, they all come to the conclusion “The state is nonexistent.” The local official will get away with an accusatory letter stating that “we asked for money, but they didn’t give it to us.” The minister will reply that “we gave it to you but you didn’t manage it properly,” and life will go on in the ruins and the dirty water until the next disaster hits and the show starts all over again.
