OPINION

Reexamine funding for political parties

One of the many symptoms of the far-reaching economic crisis is the fact that certain political parties in Greece have gone bankrupt – literally, not figuratively.

The biggest political parties in the country had become accustomed to surviving with large tranches of state funding and an open line of credit with certain state-owned banks.

Unfortunately, the leaders of the political parties managed their finances just as they did those of the state and state-owned enterprises. They were accountable to no one, they raked in as much cash as possible and they never bothered to keep track of what they brought in and what they spent.

It is time the political parties learned that they, like the state, must get their houses in order, that they need to change the way they operate and to conduct their affairs no differently than a business would if it wanted to remain financially viable.

As painful as this process may be to party leaderships and officials, they need to move ahead with the changes and do so without encumbering the state coffers any longer.

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