(Greece) - '..Berlin, Paris and Brussels should make an effort to understand the real problem: clientelism.'

'..Greece does not need moral sermons, but efficient help from competent experts. It needs steadfast guidance in the effort to reform the country’s political system .. the country’s underlying political culture is totally different from that of Western and Central Europe. The state is, in effect, an object of exploitation for all those who can tap into the money tools it can provide access to.'

'Europe’s simplistic approach to the real problem

With a tone of great moral righteousness, but a lack of political realism, they demand that the Greeks simply overcome their pervasive levels of corruption and clean their house.

This simplistic approach is absolutely counter-productive. Greece does not need moral sermons, but efficient help from competent experts. It needs steadfast guidance in the effort to reform the country’s political system.

This is a much bigger – and more pressing – task for the EU than many people realize. The “Greek problem” is only the first of its kind, which has surfaced so far.

To be sure, all Balkan states suffer from this Ottoman heritage, albeit in various degrees. Berlin, Paris and Brussels should make an effort to understand the real problem: clientelism.

If there is a broader lesson to be learned, it is this: Formally, Greece is a democratic state with separation of powers, elections, free press, etc. That makes it look like many other European countries.

However, the country’s underlying political culture is totally different from that of Western and Central Europe. The state is, in effect, an object of exploitation for all those who can tap into the money tools it can provide access to.

In elections, a Greek voter does not vote for a party, but against that party which did not do him the expected favor during the previous term.

The two longtime ruling parties, the left PASOK and the conservative Nea Dimokratia, are clientelistic pyramids. Syriza is now demonstrating that, rather than representing a rupture from the past, it very much follows in its predecessors’ footsteps.'

- Heinz Richter, Missed Opportunities: The Political Culture of Greece Since 1974, June 20, 2015



Context

Another Type of European Democracy: The Emergence of Modern Greece, June 18, 2015

British Greece: The Political Culture of a Protectorate, June 19, 2015

(Greece) - '..significant debt forgiveness..'


'..in today’s world debts don’t settle – they just keeps expanding and expanding..'

'When companies go bankrupt, a debt-equity swap is a fair and efficient solution.' - - 'Corruption..' - '..restructure..' - '..go bankrupt, reorganize.'