Financial Times
December 1, 2011
Two of the countries at the centre of the eurozone crisis are perceived as having more corrupt public sectors than their neighbours, according to a report published on Thursday.
Greece is seen as more corrupt than Gambia while Italy is the lowest-scoring member of the Group of Seven developed nations, according to annual rankings of 183 countries published by Transparency International, the campaigning group.
“Eurozone countries suffering debt crises, partly because of public authorities’ failure to tackle the bribery and tax evasion that are key drivers of debt crisis, are among the lowest scoring EU countries,” TI said.
The index appears days after Greece, ranked 80th in the table, announced that the head of its new independent statistics agency faces an official criminal investigation for allegedly inflating the scale of the country’s fiscal crisis – charges he denies. Governments in both Italy, ranked 69th, and Greece are due to outline austerity measures next week as leaders of European Union countries mount a desperate attempt to secure the single currency.
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1 comment:
One might have added that Greece is No. 30 out of 30 and that 75% of Greeks said that corruption got worse in the last 2 years (2009-10).
What is equally disastrous for Greece is the "Doing Business 2012" report from the World Bank/IFC. There, Greece ranks at No. 100 in the world as regards the ease of doing business in the country. And if Greeks really want to feel badly, they should look up their favorite neighbors to the North: FYROM moved up to No. 22 (from 24).
My Greek wife tells me that there is the following Greek saying: there is nothing bad which doesn't also include something good!
And this is and has been my point all along: Greece has so many opportunities and so much potential (if nothing other than correcting the present faults) that is it really about time that Greeks get their act together and start working on those things which they, and only they, can influence themselves!
http://www.doingbusiness.org/reports/global-reports/doing-business-2012
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