Corruption
There are two factors to consider in the government’s decision to take specific legislative measures against corruption and entangled interests. First, the government is openly admitting that the country is bedeviled by widespread corruption which it has undertaken to tackle and eliminate. But the special legislation mandated by a corresponding constitutional provision does not aim to eradicate corruption but rather to curb its extent. Secondly, the accuracy and the effectiveness of a law do not depend so much on the intent and foresight of the lawmaker but rather on the government’s ability to implement it in practice. Three years ago, the government of Prime Minister Costas Simitis tried in vain to put an end to the chaos on the airwaves and to reign in a media that often acted with impunity (Venizelos law). Consequently, the main question is whether the current government has the political will and the courage to fight corruption. Media owners who have for years cozied up to the State are familiar figures to everybody. However, as has repeatedly been said, corruption rests on two foundations. The State, the government and, more generally, the political sphere is one of them. By acknowledging the existence of widespread corruption, Simitis’s government is – indirectly yet clearly – confessing to the existence of its partners in politics…
