Greece admits it is riddled with corruption

[The Northerner]

George Papandreou, Greece’s prime minister, acknowledge to his fellow European Union leaders that the Greek public sector was riddled with corruption.

At an EU summit on Thursday night, The bloc’s 26 other national leaders sat in silence as Mr Papandreou delivered a short, blunt speech on Thursday night that said everything the rest of Europe had long known, or suspected, about Greek bureaucracy.

Greece is in the throes of the most serious fiscal emergency to strike the eurozone since the single currency’s launch in 1999. Mr Papandreou’s baring of the national soul capped a tumultuous week in which Greece’s creditworthiness was downgraded, its stock market plunged, the interest rate on its debt soared and even its survival in the eurozone was questioned.

José Manuel Barroso, European Commission president, praised Mr Papandreou’s determination to address the Greek economy’s problems, such as low business competitiveness and a public debt poised to rise far above the nation’s annual economic output.

“He recognised that there was a huge problem of corruption throughout the administration, including in public procurement,” Mr Barroso said.

Read more: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/54f4983e-e637-11de-bcbe-00144feab49a.html

[provis99]

1. cool! Greece is just like us!

The two birthplaces of democracy are full of corruption; how ironic.

[kenny blankenship]

2. Hey, we're just people following our rational self-interest wherever it leads!

We never pretended to be holy and above everyone else. We're just ordinary people --greedy, greedy, ordinary people.

[westerebus]

3. Did ya know...

that the Greek government included prostitution and the black market in their estimates of their GDP to secure admission into the EU?

[roamer65]

4. Germany and France will underwrite Greek debt to keep the Euro stable.

They will not let Eurozone sovereign debt fail.

[westerebus]

5. That might be a problem.

I believe there are prohibitions built into the EU Charter on a bail out of a fellow member state.

But, Angela Merkle said the EU needs to come up with an agreement to take over the financial mechanism's of the Greek Government if the EU (Franco German Finance Ministries) has to intervene to prevent a default.

I would not be surprised to see the Greek Army in the streets of Athens soon.

[fasttense]

6. Almost like us.

They don't seem to have jumped on the con called "free" market economy. I guess they don't have Larry Summers and Rubin. They don't plan to cut their middle class's throats in order to make up billions in national wealth stolen by the plutocracy. But of course the market does NOT like that.

"However, he made it clear that Greece would not follow Ireland’s example and enforce drastic wage cuts.

“If we were at the edge of the abyss, we would cut wages in half. But we are not and we are fighting hard not to get there. We will protect wage-earners and pensioners.”

His unwillingness to specify cost-cutting measures disappointed market-watchers."