Kathimerini/Guardian
November 9, 2011
Greece is facing a difficult challenge at the moment. For the past 30 years, Greek citizens believed that they had a life contract – or rather, two contracts. One was a contract with our politicians, on the basis of which a young person's employment in the public sector was considered almost certain, as was our "settlement" of tax obligations on the basis of which politicians we knew. The second was a contract with the European Union, which provided substantial benefits in the form of agricultural subsidies and other EU funds.
For the past 30 years we lived on the basis of these two contracts and we have to say that they were good years. At first we had many billions in the form of Community funding and then came the easy loans that we secured through our being members of the eurozone. Either through loans or from EU funding, these were good years for all – including Germans and others who took advantage of the great Greek party.
I am not talking about the consumer goods that we became accustomed to with such ease. I am talking about, for example, the pharmaceutical companies that exploited to the full Greece's corrupt and disorganised system so as to multiply their profits compared to what they made in other countries. I am referring to the many billions that went towards armaments, behind which were huge kickbacks.
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