Corruption: The one problem in Greece

In the period 2010-15, those of us living abroad were treated to a particularly discriminatory attitude from residents of other countries. The worst behavior was from Central and Northern Europeans, primarily Germans. Greece’s entry into the First Economic Adjustment Program, known as the “First Memorandum,” in 2010 and the diversion of this course with the Second (2012) and Third Memorandum in 2015, combined with the mockery of the “no” (YES) referendum vote, made it clear once again both at home and abroad that, on the one hand, we are not a serious country and, on the other, we are not worthy of being represented by serious politicians. 

At that time, living and traveling abroad was really a great suffering, because wherever you were – e.g. holidays, educational trips, international scientific conferences etc – the first question was “Where are you from?” and the second “What do you do for a living?” So when you dared to blurt out that you were a Greek professor of economics at the university, your interlocutor would at best grin and laugh silently, and at worst would say flatly, “So you are going to teach students outside Greece economics?”

Generally speaking, in all these conversations things ranged from difficult to dark. And one had to have a great sense of humor to be able to invent an answer that would not be swallowed up by the earth. And it required extraordinary amounts of composure not to be offended and not to react to every comment. 

But when one managed to get over the first chill, with humor (always) and plenty of composure, and when your interlocutor realized that you were neither going to be offended nor to fight back, then they would ask you the million-dollar question “What is the problem in Greece? What could you do to get out of this situation?” And then I would answer: “There is one main problem in Greece, in my opinion. Corruption.”

Both then and now, I believe that the problem in Greece is one. Corruption. And nobody can convince me otherwise. In a country where everything has a price, without necessarily having a value, and where everything can be traded, how can any change for the better come about? In a country in which me stealing from the IRS is OK, but the state stealing from me is not, how can we expect progress? Nobody likes corruption. We all want transparent procedures and meritocracy, so long as all of the above does not conflict with the appointment of our son, daughter, brother or the disability pension of our non-disabled father. 

And of course, on top of the existing value chaos is the political system, which is well and truly alive and kicking precisely because of the bungling, corruption and clientelism between politicians and citizens. And this applies to everyone collectively. 

The question is this: Does anyone expect a political system or a party in government to stamp out corruption? For how much longer are we going to fool each other? It is like asking a patient to unplug himself from the oxygen that keeps him alive. 

Transparency International has been gathering statistics over a number of years on the levels of corruption in an increasing number of countries around the world. The corruption indicators calculated by TI are based on questionnaires filled in by citizens of different countries, and reflect their perceptions and experiences of the level of corruption in their country. 

The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) was first introduced in 1995 and included data for a mere 41 countries. The CPI takes values from 0 to 10, with 10 representing the complete absence of corruption in a country and 0 representing perfect corruption. In 1995 Greece was 30th in the ranking with a score of 4.04/10. 

With the increase in the number of countries included in the CPI to 90, our country in 2000 ranked 35th with a score of 4.9/10, showing progress in absolute terms. This downward trend in the ranking is justified by the entry of new countries into the index. In 2010 TI increased the number of countries in the CPI to 159, and Greece ranked 47th with a score of 4.3 and a decline in both absolute and relative terms. At this time the countries that were higher than Greece in the ranking were mainly OECD countries.

In 2015, with 167 countries participating in the index, Greece was now ranked 58th, while indicatively, it was two places below Ghana and Cuba, and 10 places below Georgia. In a total of 180 countries, in 2024, Greece was in 59th place. 

In 1995, the top 10 countries with the lowest levels of corruption were New Zealand, Denmark, Singapore, Finland, Canada, Sweden, Australia, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Norway, while in 2024 nine of these 10 countries remain in the top 10. At the same time, many of the Western and Central European countries such as France, Germany, and Austria remain high in the rankings, with relatively lower levels of corruption and no particular relative losses in ranking over the decades. 

The countries I mentioned, as well as some others, show progress over the years in many indicators related to education, health, infrastructure, transport, rule of law and others. However, whatever edifices these countries have to show as part of their progress are neither built on sand, nor shaky foundations or swamps.

The corruption index undoubtedly ranks Greece among the developing rather than developed countries, unfortunately. This is an achievement of the political system, but also a result of the deeply clientelistic relationship between citizens and politicians. For this reason, instead of looking at how the railway network could be upgraded with more investment and education services may be improved through additional funding from the relevant ministry (not that it is not absolutely necessary), we should first look at “where the money goes.” Because if the money is lost in “black holes” on the one hand and no one is ever held accountable for it on the other (apart from some scapegoats from time to time), then increasing these “investments” will never have an impact on the daily life of the citizen. If we are not willing to change the way we think and act, then we must realize that things will not change either. Things change when we change.

Marina Selini Katsaiti is associate professor and chair of the Department of Economic and Regional Development at the Agricultural University of Athens in Amfissa.