OPINION

Slipshod control of finances

One can only express awe and disbelief at the flippant manner in which public finances are being managed here in Greece. In yet another sign of this slipshod attitude, the conservative government reportedly has decided, on the occasion of the upcoming European Parliament elections on June 7, to go ahead with a spectacular increase in benefits to state officials. According to sources, civil servants are set to receive more than 140 million euros in benefits in exchange for the overtime they are expected to work in the countdown to the polls. The steep increase, compared to the previous national elections, has been driven by wage hikes as well as the payment of benefits to new categories of employees. As a result, the state will end up paying in a single day what it was supposed to save in an entire year from the freeze on civil servants’ salaries. Government officials must finally realize that the country is in a dire fiscal state and that there really is no more room for further waste driven by political expedience.

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