Premier is wrong on corruption
There has been much talk lately about Prime Minister George Papandreou’s purported statement that he is «in charge of a corrupt country.» Many Greeks are rightly upset with these words by their prime minister. First of all, they have taken umbrage because not all of the country is corrupt. Rather, the fault lies with those segments of public life that have become addicted to graft right under the nose of the political system. In any case, one cannot put all those ethical individuals who are struggling to make a living nor the country’s law-abiding businesses in the same category as the forces of corruption. Secondly, for some reason, Papandreou seems to think that the corruption has only been around for the past six years. Everyone knows that this is not true, as corruption took root in Greece during PASOK’s early spell in power. And a third reason why people are angry is because Papandreou has, from the start, been part of the system that has fueled this phenomenon all these years. He cannot afford to behave as if he is the prime minister of some foreign country or an outsider to Greece’s political establishment.
