The corruption in Greece has reached high levels and it keeps happening not only with the citizen’s tolerance but on the contrary many times with their participation. First of all, the citizens are responsible for electing and re- electing a corrupted government by their vote. Greek citizens many times voting for personal gain, even it is the country elections or the prefecture/municipal elections. Which means that their vote decision is made considering only who will give a job to them or to their children. Thus, substantially the vote has been turned into a transaction...

The corruption in Greece has reached high levels and it keeps happening not only with the citizen’s tolerance but on the contrary many times with their participation. First of all, the citizens are responsible for electing and re- electing a corrupted government by their vote. Greek citizens many times voting for personal gain, even it is the country elections or the prefecture/municipal elections. Which means that their vote decision is made considering only who will give a job to them or to their children. Thus, substantially the vote has been turned into a transaction...

Generally in Greece corruption is huge not only from the politics, but also from the citizens. . There have been reported from the mass media (taken from governmental sources) that there is a percentage of incapable people, who in fact go through a medical committee (who perhaps been manipulated) and who actually are not incapable at all. However, it is said that some manage to take incapability benefits or pensions, plus they have all the other discounts (purchase of "incapability" car, etc.). The above were mentioned by the media in the past.

The worst problem is the one that Greeks call "intermediate" or "tooth" or "connection" and almost every one of them has used it at least once. However, practically all Greeks are using the acquaintances they have in various public administrative services, governmental or municipal or prefecture. That way, any nomination or advance to higher social-economical positions or just a better treatment comes as a benefit from those acquaintances. Greeks are using their acquaintances during all their lives and unfortunately many of them owe their social and economical advance to those acquaintances. In other words there is favoritism everywhere.

The worse form of favoritism is in the Greek army, where every bum, every hobo enjoys a better treatment just because he has political or military acquaintances, for world exclusive. Not even the English prince Harry himself, didn't had a better treatment in the army than the other soldiers. Part of the Greek army is said to be the military air force department which is more or less the department of the "connections" and most of the times the soldiers that go there are the ones who have acquaintances political or military.

However, the Greek army has a lot more problems. To start with, some years ago, Greece was under trial to the Amnesty International because the conscientious objector were been send to jail! Another problem in Greek army is that some celebrities (like members of the parliament, actors, singers and many more) are accused by the media for not even join the army at the first place, since they get excluded using various fake medical certificates, or they serve in an office!

In Greece a Turkish-Albanian attitude exists, that overrules (which has literally passed into the Neo-Greek ‘genes’ since they were degraded under the Turkish conquerors for 400 whole years) and doesn't seem to be leaving. An attitude of degradation, sneaky behavior, (small) fraud, bribe, favoritism, nepotism, etc. But it's also the Greek politicians in a wide meaning (members of the parliament), even those in the local authorities (mayors, prefects) that have spoilt the citizens by some of them promising a job position or a favorable act for their affair.

But the question is - beyond the bribes and the beneficial politics - if there's any real public constructions. Many of the public constructions is said that have been made with money multiple than those already exist. The government as much as the local authorities (mayors, prefects) often use public money with a way that may considered fraud but in Greece is legal: the famous ‘direct assignments’. In other words, when a public construction needs to be made, there is no competition carried out (this can happen under a cost limit), instead there is an agreement under the table with a specific construction company that gives the "bribe" (money percentage) for their choice instead of choosing some other company, while - because of this "bribe" - the construction is been made with a smaller budget that it should.

As a result of this the Greece is the champion in bad constructed public constructions (as most Greek roads that are the worst in the whole Europe). On the other hand, there are accusations for several frauds in the assignments through competition, too. The conclusion is that when there is a low budget for a construction in the first place (usually in order to be lower than the limit of direct assignments even if that means that one construction has to be split in parts), then the result is a bad construction, with a quality very much lower than the international scientific standards. Finally, some constructors steal the money that belong to the Greek people, and to the EU, too.

However, as in every fraud in Greece, it is very difficult to find evidence. Also, something considered as frauds in Greece perhaps can be permitted by the Greek law! And politicians make the laws they find better for their own good!

Greece is the only country in the whole world that almost every day has the capital's (Athens) streets closed by demonstrators (even by only 30 - 50 individuals!!!) that usually require the increase of their income. Also, opposition political parties are back of most strikes. Even the schools are often closed because the students are so bored to study, so they prefer to take control of the school building for several days. On the other hand the universities are in bad condition, the professors of all rungs of the education aren't been evaluated by anybody, while in England if a professor gets a negative evaluation from his students or pupils he's getting fired and that's the right thing to do. The Greek universities are also the gathering place of junkies and anarchists.

The anarchists in Greece whenever they want (e.g. after a strike) they enter in the universities and they vandalize public properties. The police doesn’t dare to arrest them because of the supposed ‘asylum’ of the universities! So they let the anarchists to vandalize the universities that use them to hide after being chased by the police after a demonstration. They also act provocative on demonstrations, and with their vandalisms they give the excuse to the riot police to destroy the demonstrations.

In Greece the anarchists whenever they want they burn national or international (usually American) companies and banks, they burn cars of the states or embassies, they invade in police stations and steal the officers weapons (!), they steal banks, they steal supermarkets and give the goods to the pedestrians (like Robin Hoods!) and they use the illegal immigrants appearing as their protectors. On strikes the anarchists are hooded and don’t show their face. There is also a connection of the anarchists with criminal acts (like kidnapping and bank robbery) and they are also connected with terrorism. However, the anarchist don’t want any kind of country. They hate countries, and any kind of power such as the police. But without a country, without a State, the law of the jungle will occur and the fittest will eat the weaker. Closing with the anarchists, it is surprising that in Greece the anarchists are manipulated by the mass media which not only are afraid to call them anarchists (they call them anti- powerists), but many times they take their side and e.g. when the anarchists and the fascists fight. However in Greece the anarchists whenever they wish they can burn and vandalize Athens and many other major cities.

Returning to the strikes, the demand of the demonstrators are often reasonable (don't forget that Greece has the lowest wage in Europe), however the demands are often unreasonable too and based on personal interests, for example until recently the schoolteachers were in the past on strike, demanding the increase of their salary, which is reasonable and a good reason to strike for, however nobody seemed to pay attention to the fact that the teachers (as well as the professors) is said that they are getting paid during the school holidays (among them the 3 whole months at the summer) when they aren't working. No one mentioned either, that some do private courses (even if that's illegal as they are public servants) and of course they don't give invoices! In Greece public sector servant who have big wages and pension strike. However people who work on private sector jobs (for part time cheap job or max 700 euros full time job) or pensioners farmers of 300 euros do not demonstrate…

In Greece, as a world exclusive, the paramedics are on strike (they even use the ambulances at their demonstrations), the hospitals are on strike, the taxi and the buss drivers are on strike. When a hospital is on strike there are human lives put into danger. In Greece there is also the system of rollover after hours working between the hospitals, which means that if someone needs to be treated and lives next to a non-working after hours hospital, he won't be treated in that hospital! In Greece everyone working on public sector can go on strike. For example people working on electricity public organism caused black out for several days, even though they have big salaries and pensions comparing with the 700 euros people take as salary on private sector jobs.

In Greece the percentage of women that participate in the parliament and prefecture/municipal elections is disappointingly small. Even smaller is the people's trust (even women's trust!) who do not vote the women candidates. In Greece there is however a strange situation with women. The Greek women are retiring in younger age than the men (as if in the age of 50 and more they have to take care of the family) and they don't join the army (even if they don't have children before their 30s) as men. However, in Greece there is something against women: at Mountain Athos, a place full of monasteries that has a strange governmental autonomy (a state in the state), women not allowed to cross over, in order not to temptate the monks!

Unfortunately, Greece has been ruined by one particular politician: Andreas Papadreou, during his long lasting governing (about 11-12 years): before that everything was prohibited in Greece, with Andreas everything was allowed. His laicism was historic. The same way was the manipulation of the crowds, too, which even Gabel would be jealous of!

Everything pointed in this document became even worse during the governing of that supposedly socialist politician. Of course, however, they did exist before that and they continue to happen after his death. In fact, Papadreou had been accused (but found not guilty because of the lack of evidences) about the scandal with Crete bank, a very big economical fraud.

Thru the years, in Greece the favoritism, the nepotism, the bribes and the exploitation of the public money took enormous dimension. And they are still continuing today, even if the governments have changed. The governments are changing, the corruption remains the same. The latest years there is a scandalous favoritism concerning the parliamentary compensations and the salaries and the pensions of the members of the parliament and the judges. Also public servants, academics and militaries have big salary and pension. The rest working on private sector are paid with 700 euros salary.

A few years ago there was the enormous corruption scandal in the field of justice and the unbelievable thing is that some judges and attorneys were accused for being manipulative.

However, junkies are been arrested and convicted, in the contrary with the celebrities and the drug dealers who not only don't get arrested, but even if this happens they're proven innocent in the court or convicted for only a few years imprisonment and sometimes they just disappear during their first few days leave from the jail (that's an other schizophrenia, they offer a few days leave to prisoners, as if they were public servants). At the same time, in Greece in fact there is no life sentence! As soon as a convicted criminal passes the about 3/5 of his sentence in prison he's allowed to leave!

An other field having problems is the education and for that too the politicians have the main responsibility. Every government of the last 30 years abused the education system. The last 30 years every government in charge applies their own changes on education. Of course, for the Greeks there is always something to benefit of, so the pupils, as a world exclusive, are taking the control of their schools and universities (here is were the teachers are against to their evaluation!) and closing the streets substantially aiming mainly to loose course hours or to suppress the changes that the government made in education and which makes the things difficult for them!

The parents are usually requesting and pushing the teachers to give high degrees to their children and later when the boys join the army, again the parents request from their military superiors to help their children have as easy time as possible in the army. Also, again as a world exclusive, Greece is the only country where the private courses are essential in order to succeed in the exams for the tertiary education. This is, in some way right, but it's not right to replace the school with the private courses! Note that the private courses are been taught sometimes by public teachers (even if that's illegal) who sometimes are stealing from the state, as they don't give invoices.

The main responsibility for those problems in education is upon the parents who are pushing their children to get the best degrees and the result of that is that Greece is the first country in Europe that has high skilled unemployment and the highest number of doctors and lawyers, and there are much more specialists than we need in fields like civil engineering, physics-mathematics, philology, mechanical engineering, policemen etc.

But what do the Greek parents do about that? They insist to the degrees!!! So, when their children can't get in a Greek university they send them aboard. There are Greek students almost in every country around the world, but most of them (especially for medical studies) are in England, Romania and Bulgaria. They don't care what kind of degree they'll take in Bulgaria and Romania, as long as they get a degree! How does the Greek ministry answer to all those problems? By simply increasing the positions of the students accepted in the tertiary education and that way we don't only have high unemployment for the graduates, but we keep getting even more graduates. Also, many of them are getting accepted in a university aboard and take tests to get transferred to a Greek university or they are using the Erasmus program in order to study a part of their studies is Greece!!!

However even the ancient Greek has something in common with the current and maybe all the negative characteristics the ancients had, have now pass into the common subconscious of the neo-Greeks. So, maybe the ancient Greece had a huge culture which won't be an exaggeration to say that it was the constitutional foundation of the western culture, however the ancient Greek history is consisting of civil wars among the cities-states, like the Peloponisian War in ancient Greece or in the later history the civil war after the revolution of 1821 (they even killed the 1st governor Kapodistrias and also imprisoned the general Kolokotronis who set Greece free!). Also there was a civil war after the German Possession on 1944, however the British have a great responsibility for it.

They ancient Greeks even condemned to death the philosopher Socrates and exiled Aristotle. On Byzantium they exiled the Patriarch Megas Chrisostomos who became after saint!

In ancient Greece, some cities, like Sparta and (less) Thebes, had cooperate even with the Persians, while we must not forget that when the Persians attacked Greece, the Northern Greece (Viotia, Macedonia, Thessaly, etc.) was spontaneously surender(!) to the Persians (except the 700 Thespians who fought in the side of the 300 of Leonidas, but nobody ever mentions them). Also, during the German occupation in 1940, some Greeks co-operated with the Germans as traitors and created battalions of Greek traitors para militants (‘hites’, ‘tagmatasfalites’) killers like the Ess Ess Nazi killers.

In ancient Greece we must not forget the fact that Alexander the Great, after the Lamia War, substantially occupied the rest of Greece and demanded (with the use of the weapons) from the other cities by the treaty of Isthmus to recognize him as the emperor! It's a surprise that there were Greek mercenaries everywhere, even in Egypt where the 7th century B.C. Farao Psamitihos used Greek mercenaries to the expedition against Nubia. In fact, Alexander himself fought along with 30000 (!) Greek mercenaries to the side of the Persians (their leader was Darios) in the battle of Hisos in 333 B.C.! Anyway, Greeks were using mercenaries too, like the Celts!!!

Regarding the Byzantium period (don't forget that Byzantium was the eastern Romaic empire) the history there is very dirty, including unbelievable intrigues and barbarian races came Greece, like Slavians,Ounnies, even Vikings! First of all during Byzantium era the last real Greeks had been slaughtered, the ones that the Christian founders called nationals (idolaters) and some of them became famous like the slaughters of Theodosios, also the pause of the Olympic games and the demolition of the ancient Greek temples took place during that period. During the second half, when the Turks were ready to prevail to Constantinople, the Byzantium preferred the 400 years of enslave, instead of asking the Pope's help. But even when the Greek revolution started against the Turks, it was the Patriarchy the first hurried to... excommunicate it!

Therefor, everything is good and beautiful with the ancient Greek culture, but the Greek history stinks everywhere you touch it. Isn't it better to read the English history for example about the Boutiga the Celts queen who defeated the Romans?

Returning to today's gloomy reality, one field where you can find corruption is the police. In fact, often there has been arrests of policemen that not only don't fight the common crime, but instead some are cooperating with them for example in cases of blackmail, drugs etc. In the police there is corruption, especially in the suburbs where almost everyone knows each other well. Last year, in Veria somebody killed his girlfriend because more likely he was jealous of her. Even if he was the only suspect the police didn't pushed him for months to reveal where he had hidden her body. When the case reached dead end the police reporter Angeliki Nikolouli of the TV station ΑLTER from Athens with her team (one of the team members was a former high profile police executive) pressed to reveal the truth and after a short while the perpetrator was arrested. However, there is continuing again in Veria. In February 2006 a minor was missing. The local police didn't find the perpetrator for months.

Eventually, the reporter Nikolouli, once more doing what the police should have done, found after her research and revealed in a video her discussion with 2 minors - members of gang - in which a kid admit that it was them (the gang) who killed the missing teenager (they beat him and through him down the stairs) and then got rid of the body.

In general, in Greece there is an abuse use of the term "children" and their supposed innocence. All of us know, from the elementary school, punks who were often organized in gangs. Every human being can be a criminal being from the early childhood and the main reason is the distraction of the family.

Returning to the gang in Veria, actually for the punishment of illegal act of persons still in the child age there is a legal problem. In Greece in order to make or cover frauds they vote for new laws in the middle of a summer night. However, many other laws are very old and dated back to dictator Metaxas days on the 30s (in fact there was one law dated to Othonos days and on the end of 19th century). Thus, the children of young age aren't been punished by enclosure, but instead by taking away the parental assiduity and maybe by enclosure in an institute.

But not even the pedophiles have been punished in the past. Usually, the pedophiles declared that the pornographic material they had been only for personal use (just like the declaration of a junkie about the drug found in his posses)!!!

Except Veroia’s gang, recently was reported an other case of police goofs with a young man murdered in Akrata and his body was left near the train trials, in order to appear as an accident. At first the research of the case took over the... road accidents department, while a "key-witness" was send back to Albany (!), and there wasn't any brief formed against anybody, so for the police that murder is a case of suicide, which means that if the TV show of the channel ΑLΤΕR hadn't bring it up, the dead man would never been vindicated.

However the phenomenon of the suicides is quite often in the army too, there too is no check, as it's known to everyone that the army is state in the state and has even its own courts... In fact, is been said that the drug usage appear in high percentage into the army.

Another problem in Greece is that it is the most homophobic societies the homosexuals are been named daily with inappropriate words and generally they are pushed out of the society. All these are Turkish remains (because in the Moslem countries the homosexuals are barred alive), however let's not forget the "ottoman sex" which the Anglo-Saxon call today "the Greek way", because of the homosexuality that ancient Greeks had and which isn't ever been taught in the Greek schools!!!

Surprisely the majority of the Greeks considers that homosexuality is only the passive sex and not the energetic!!! At the same time, there are obvious homosexual tense even to the young children e.g. if you observe the 5-10 years old young boys playing computer games in any Greek Internet cafe (in Greece the Internet is seldomly used in the Internet café but children play violent computer games) you'll notice that they swear, using homosexual implies like "I f..ed him" (meaning I killed him) and many more. But in older ages too the boys very often use homosexual implies in their daily vocabulary (e.g. "I'll f... you") and there is also a hidden homosexuality which unfortunately is been strengthened by the bad family environment. In Athens where is a more free society the homosexuality is more often than in the suburbs where it's consider even today a serious social spot... At the same time, don't forget the fact that a percentage of the general population had during the late childhood (!) or in the teenage some homosexual experience which they and sometimes some psychologists name a sexual experimentation!

Greece is a country holding a lot of negative first places in Europe. So, Greece is: first in children overweight (I repeat that the Greeks not only eat junk food but they also don't exercise), first in drug usage among teenagers and first in smoking. In Greece children are start smoking while they still are in the elementary school and they are so irresponsible that they smoke everywhere, even the employees in the public services and banks, but also into the taxi, also the doctors into their office, also the patients on the hospital balcony or in the front yard!

Greece is also first in the road accidents (the Greek drivers are the rudest and they are driving in the worst roads in Europe), the last country in the Internet usage and the broadband speeds (and the first in computer games), first in corruption, last in competition, first in percentage of population to doctors, especially to Greek doctors that studied in Romania and Bulgaria. Also, Greece is first in number of lawyers and police officers, even if there is actually lack of policemen in the streets , since most of them are body guarding the politicians and celebrities such as TV personas. Also, Greece is the first in giving up the basic education and in the child employment, first in the low birthrate (the Greeks have as an excuse - as usual - financial reasons, however the immigrants even they are poor they have 2 or more children), first in abortions (no sexual education exists) and first in sending students (and money) aboard, etc. However, Greece is the first country in home-owners. The Greeks are complaining all through their lives that they don't have any money but the most of them have their own house!!!

Also, Greece has the lowest wages, the lowest pensions and the lowest unemployment benefits. The biggest problem are the low-pensioners who are asking money from their children (if they haven’t closed in a nursing home), and also a lot of unemployed skilled young people. At the same time, Greece is the last country in Europe in the size of the compensations which the court decides for individuals that had a damage due to a public organism. Classic examples are the road accidents with motorbikes or cars that fell in a road hole (we know that many roads have been constructed through the direct assignments) and they got injured and when they're looking for their legal rights substantially they become a tennis ball between the public services (municipality, prefecture, water supply service, ministry of public works) to find out who's responsible.

Regarding the first place in the road accidents the reason is that the Greek drivers are the worst in the whole world plus they're driving in the worst roads in the world. Many roads are been constructed through the corrupted systems of the "direct assignment" by construction companies that not only is said they bribe for been selected, but they also construct the construction with lower budget than they should. Also, there are thousands of minors driving motorcycles without having driving licence and without wearing helmet, while often the young ones are driving drunk in the night after going to a night club. But let's not forget the fact that often, according to mass media reports, many Greeks is reported by the media that are buying their driving licence giving money to their driving teacher in order to pay the committee (even if today the situation is a little bit better)...

The Greek drivers are very rude and the men behave irresponsible to the women drivers and they swear. Generally, everyone is swearing and hand gesturing the one another. By the way, the open palm gesture is a humiliating gesture and along with the swearing "as..le", the jealousy and the tense to create gangs are characterizing the Greeks all around the world. The Greeks are the worst drivers in the world and you see every single day pictures like illegal pass through, trucks driving in a convoy the one behind the other. You also see cars taking a 180 degrees turn in central roads, people driving motorbike with wearing helmet and driving a car without wearing seatbelt, small children without seatbelt and mothers holding their baby in the front seat (which means that in case of a collation the baby will become the mother's airbag), parents driving a motorcycle having their small child or even baby on their laps and also minors driving motorcycles without helmet and even kids driving trackters!

At the same time, the biggest problem in Greece are the taxi drivers who are giving a bad name to the whole country internationally by some of them stealing from the tourists (and the locals), with taking more than one separate passengers, with their rudeness, the customer selection (if he doesn't like you or where you're going he doesn't give you a ride, even if he doesn't have another customer) etc.

Even the news reports in Greece are horrible (except those of the national television). Greece is the only country in which the news reports are been done through tele "panels" and particularly this year from one main anchorman and 4-5 co-presenders who say their personal (or their boss) opinion as objective!!! But the reporters and the news anchormen who are presented as uncorrupted often they or their bosses are involved with the politic-financial authorities and trusts.

The news reports are a parade of exclusive 10 - 20 members of the parliament, mainly from Athens. At the same time, many of the reporters are contacting the members of the parliament and the ministers on their mobile, as if they were good friends! The worst thing is that, against every sense of journalistic deontology which prevents the news anchormen to express their personal opinion, the news presentation is been done in a completely substantial way, and the worst is that the news reports are been turned into a TV show. In fact there is a TV channel that instead of the breaking news presents gossips and news of the famous.

The worst thing in the Greek TV are the tele-trials. In other words when there is a rather popular issue on TV there's a parade of all the relatives of the dead who are yelling and searing that he was uncorrupted and the victim of the cruel society. At the same time, almost everyday for various issues there's a parade in the news and shows of lawyers against all senses of deontology. I wonder why the law association don't ever remove anyone from their position and I also wonder why the 10 particular lawyers from Athens are always present in the TV shows.

What's happening with the tele-trials is that no one ever is able to make a sure conclusion, as the TV can't ever take the place of the court rooms. However in the court rooms sometimes, too there is also an unbelievable mess with the trials been continuously postponed (often with the excuses that a defender or a prosecutor is ill) and often the hearing of a case is been held after many years, while with the resorts to the highest court a case can make it to the hearing in over a decade. By the way, since I mentioned the resorts, Greece is the only country where a person or a small village has the power to resort to the territory council and to the European court in order to cause a delay to a civil construction, as happened for example with the incapability to find a space for sanitary burial of the litter because of the fact that every little village is been resorting to the territory council and cancels the construction.

An other huge problem in Greece is the side economy, with the most classic problem the fact that almost no one is giving invoices, however the Greeks themselves never ask for the receipt. That way, in a medical visit the doctor rarely give a receipt for the services or the handyman (e.g. plumber or electrician) who visits a house for a repair or a convenient store or a shop. Only the super markets are giving receipts every time and some of the shops that sell cloths or electric appliances. Also, many Greeks are stealing from the taxes. The simplest way is not to give invoices. There are often reports of bribing a tax officer. However they are stealing from the tourist, too: everybody knows the profiteering and the tax evasion in the tourist places (especially the Greek islands). Therefore the last years the tourists prefer Turkish beaches, except of the English who choose the Rhodes Faliraki for sex-tourism!

In the public health field everybody knows the situation with the "envelops", which means that any patient in order to pass through the waiting list and have a surgery earlier or just in order to have a better treatment by the doctor he has to pay him more. This often happens after the doctor's pressure (usually the surgeon's), however sometimes the patient himself causes it spontaneously!!! However the waiting list for a surgery is often fake! Even if not, it can be bypassed with a ‘present’ to the surgeon. In Greece you can bribe everyone!

An other problem in the field of medicare that concerns every doctor who writes prescriptions is the directed prescription.

In other words, there are medical representatives of various pharmaceutical companies that not only inform the doctors about the new medicines, but they also advise them to prescribe the medicines of their company with exchange some gifts like pens (!), travels for conventions, kitchen supplies - electric appliances etc. In fact, the pharmaceutical companies are sponsoring medical conferences and often the medical-pharmaceutical and biotechnological research. Therefore a sponsored research is often unreliable. However Greek doctors are the only in the whole world that prescribe medicine and the more drugs they prescribe the more various gifts they earn from some drug companies!!! So patients usually take drugs that they don’t need!

In the health field there is a mess. The worst thing is the extra beds putted in the hospital's corridors called "ranches" and the fact that the doctors are actually examining the patients on the ranches, and the nurses are proceeding in actions (like the change of the urine collector) in public view. However the relatives of the patient are also coming in groups in the hospital and there are 3-5 relatives staying with the patient all day long filling the hospital with the germs they carry. Often, they deny to leave the room during the doctor's visit, while other times they cause problems to the doctors themselves showing them how they should do their own job.

In any case, the hospitals are horrible, having the minimum nursing personnel, while unskilled and without experience doctors often undertake the responsibility to "get the snake out of its hole". The Greek hospitals aren't at all "teaching hospitals" like the equivalent ones in other advanced countries. The worst is that the section of the hospitals that meant to take care of the emergencies where the Emergency Rooms and the TEAM who's going to meet the patients don't even exist. There are simply some curtains and some usually unskilled specializing doctors. I have never see a professor or consultant going down to the emergencies. Often, even the commissaries allow difficult situations to be handled by unskilled doctors. Even the medical centers of the suburbs don't have the essential medical equipment they need, however they are actually the places where usually the unskilled doctors go, who have just graduated the medical school and don't even have a specialty yet.

Substantially the medical centers of the suburbs are acting like transfer departments for the prefecture hospitals and those are acting like the transfer centers for the bigger hospitals in Athens or Thessaloniki. However even the transfers have problems, since not only there are not enough ambulances but there are also no drivers for the ambulances in many hospitals and medical centers. Greece is the only country where in many medical centers of the province ambulances have simple drivers and not paramedic as they should.

An other problem in the hospitals is the small number of beds in the Intensive Treatment and Intensive Care Units for which the patient's relatives are using even political acquaintances in order to get a bed! However the state itself recently, instead of increasing the number of the beds in the Intensive Treatment and to hire new personnel, decided to rent Intensive Treatment beds in the private hospitals!!! Regarding the EKAB (ambulance system), there's a horrible situation with the ambulances which have insufficient equipment and unskilled paramedics who often are bored of carrying a patient on hands, therefore they use wheel chairs instead of a stretcher !

Also, it's often to see them going up in an apartment without carrying all the necessary equipment and if the patient (that has been waiting for hour for the ambulance to arrive) is still alive, then they're going back downstairs to carry the stretcher (and if they aren't too much bored, they may carry the oxygen too). Also, in the past they often confirmed a death without even do a cardiogram! Isn't it time for the EKAB to have real doctors or even better to give a suitable education to the paramedics - following the example of the advanced countries as USA- so they can be skilled saviors and capable for medical actions like intubation, cardioversion and issuing IV medicines? Regarding the helicopters used for transferring patients, those are mostly serving the islands (however they, too are often used after political pressure of members of the parliament and local authorities) also you'll never see a helicopter over a road accident even though Greece is first on road car accidents. In the province things are like in the third world. For example at the hospital of the island Kefallonia (according to statements to mass media that the persons in charge made in the 1st of October 2006, after the death of an old lady who waited for the ambulance for 3 whole hours). In that hospital was mentioned in the media that they had some ambulances, however only one of them was on call, since they only had 2 paramedics for all the ambulances who were also taking the 911 calls.

In the hospitals there is a complete opacity and - according to the reveals that the reporter Nikos Evangelatos made in his night show "Reveals" in September 2006 - there is a lot of opacity for the hospital supplies. In fact a special medical cotton that normally costs 6 euros, in Greece is been bought for 500 euros!!! Also, they often give to the patients expired medicines which n the best case are inactive, though in the worse case they can cause septic shock. The opacity for the supplies in Greece isn't only happening in the hospitals, but it's a general problem and there are many accusations made through the mass media, however in the parliament have been made accusations about the opacity in the military supplies.

Greece could solve their economical problems if they decrease the enormous expenses spend on military supplies, and also if there was a decrease to the salaries and pensions of the parliament members, militaries, judges, professors and the bank executives. However the main problem is that a huge part of the national budget is been spent for military programs (Greece comes first to military equipment in NATO, as if it's the nazis Germany) and not for the health and not for the education. The classic excuse is that the US presses for purchasing the equipment they're selling or that there is the danger Turkey attacking Greece (even if she's a NATO member) but they don't convince anyone. The real reason is the billions euros profit comes from the supplies for the military programs... In any case, the politic tactics of the ministry of national affairs the last 25 years was a politics of continues compromise with the Turkey and the US that supports Turkey. In fact, some years ago Greek agents almost delivered "into a plate" to the Turk spies the leader of the Turk ΡΚΚ, Otsalan, and actually in Africa (before the wanted by the Turks Abdulah Otsalan was living in Greece without anyone bothering him).

Greece is the "black sheep" of the EU and continuously receives penalties like recently with the uneven treatment of men and women so they would both retired on their 65th, because in Greece the women are retiring earlier (also women don't join the army as men, although they have children after their 30s), for the non recognition of the degrees of foreign universities and colleges (as if the third world Greek universities are better than the English) etc.

A public mess was the result, in 2005 and 2006, of the reveal that the reporter Nikos Evangelatos made in his TV show that in Greece: Α) In the restaurants they recycle whatever remains in the plates and then serve it back to the next customer. Β) In the bakers shops the flour is full of insects and there are mice all around the place. C) The frozen fishes are been defrost and sold as fresh. D) The hygiene conditions in restaurants, food stores and food warehouses are very low. Ε) In the some super markets they remove the outer of the expired yellow cheese and sell is as toast cheese or trimmed cheese. F) The expiration date on the food is often changed etc.

In Greece there is unbelievable opacity. It's a frequent phenomenon to see a public servant been bribed like a tax officer, urban planning personnel, doctors (usually the surgeons and doctors who are bribed to send patients to private clinics or diagnostic centers) and many more. Very often is the bribe that is said to take place often in order to buy a driving licence (even general practitioners and eye doctors is said to been bribed in order to write fake certificates that the candidate driver is healthy). The bribe is often been done after the public servant's (e.g. tax officer) blackmail, however more often is been made spontaneously (!) by the individuals in order to finish with their issues earlier.

An other problem is the massive and unverified entry of illegal immigrants through the unattended Greek boarders and the un programmed entry of almost 1 million immigrants in a country of 10 millions, aiming only to keep satisfied the factory owners and generally all the Greek people that are taking advantage of the cheap workforce that pay cheap and don’t give insurance. Political asylum has been given to many (e.g. Kurdish, Iraqi and Afghani) who convinced the ones in charge using the classic excuse "if I go back to my country I'm going to be executed". Of course the immigrants constitute cheap working hands who don't ask for supperanuation and have no legal rights. In fact, in the past, when they finished their job, their boss, in order to save to not pay them, was calling the police who send them back to their country! However they don't give up, because the Greek boarders was and still are full of holes, and that way they could always come back.

In Greece dominates an acquaintance attitude and rarely those cases are going to the court among various associations (doctors, lawyers), even if that happens usually the punishment is small. The same happens also with the statutory administrative examinations in the public sector. Even the members of the parliament have the unacceptable parliamentary asylum according to which they can't be prosecuted, unless the parliament decides otherwise and as you already thought, rarely the parliament decides to send any of their members to the justice... An other acquaintance attitude of the members of the parliament is that the politicians decide by their own to get an increase to their own salaries!!! And they do it often!

In Greece dominates "the thief of the thief" attribute. They steal from one another. Very often the convenience stores are stealing from their customers (rather legally, even if there is illegal profit) by overpricing the products. Many shops (e.g. with clothes or shoes) sell 100 – 300% more expensive a product than the price they buy it. Also some super markets, too have been reported from the media to steal the customers by showing different prices on the selves than the one you actually pay at the cashier and also often they advertise special offers (in cost or content in gr or ml) that don't actually exist or are lower than the one in the advertisement.

The worst is that Greece is a country with the lowest wages in EU and very low competition and that way no one skilled foreigner comes to work in Greece. If they choose Greece they will quit quickly because of the huge bureaucracy! After all there is already high unemployment in the young and educated people in Greece. However, the Greeks are a idle race. They prefer to use foreigners for the heavy duties, while they (asking from their parents) just wait for a position in a public service where they're going to do nothing all day and pay well for being lazy. They fill such positions in the past and now using political and other acquaintances and not their skills. The things became a little better since the ASEP system is used according to which there's a competition for the new personnel, however there are a lot of successful candidates who remain without a job for years.

The Greek police is a mess. The police officers (except maybe from those in the big cities) are afraid to arrest the burglars and often they don't even come (especially in areas around Attica) when someone call them to report a broke in. Of course, there are police departments with 2-4 policemen in the night, therefore they can't come because there is not enough force. However, often you'll see indifference from the policemen to deal with the common crime and especially with the drug dealers.

The classic excuse of many policemen is that "I have a family and children". Therefore the civilian should take the law in their hands, since the policeman is afraid. However, the incapable policeman could have an office position and let the capable one protect the society. Where the policemen come first is when it comes to the dissolution of demonstrations and as bodyguards and security of the politicians and VIPs – celebrities. If only we could have all those policemen that are now bodyguards of politicians, of businessmen and of journalists and of many other out to the streets to face the common crime, then the criminality would have been decreased.

But what can be done, when we don't even have on foot police patrols. An other huge problem is, as a world exclusive, the unbelievable rudeness of the Greeks to the policemen and especially to those in the traffic control whom they literally swear and they threaten to go after them using their acquaintances (as we said before Greece is the country of the acquaintances and the "intermediate"). However when the policeman or the ones in the traffic control have taken their position and advance through his acquaintances it's a natural result to be afraid of any punk that threaten him in the street! Even about the traffic fines the Greeks often go to the police department and from the who's in charge to erase them!!!

Greece is also a country full of illegally built houses. Such building are everywhere and often constitute entire cities. The state not only isn't demolishing them, instead they can get electricity, too. The police has huge responsibility who don’t arrest the land grabbers (is there bribe of the police officers?) and also there is responsibility of the urban planning department (there we do have reports of bribes) who even they don't recognize as legal, they don’t demolish the illegal buildings. However the state is making legal entire cities of illegal buildings! Unfortunately, though, usually those buildings aren't owned by poor people, instead the most of them belong to people who already have a house and use the illegal one as a summer residency. In Loutraki, for example, there are hundrents of illegal buildings, most of them owned by Athenians who use them as summer house. However in Attica there are thousands of illegal buildings too. Many businessmen have mansions that have illegally trespassed the coast and aren’t arrested. Politics aren’t keen on arresting their backers!

Beyond the illegal buildings, there are also enormous illegal acts been made by various cycles who decide the prices of the olive oil, the milk, the petrol and the heating fuel, the wine, the vegetables, and many more. They are the famous intermediates who profit billions of euros when they buy the product in a very cheap price from the producer and sell it into the super markets or the street market over-priced up to 100-300%. No one touches these ‘intermediates’. In those cycles obviously participate among others the big industries who cooperate in order to buy the products in a ridiculously low price from the producer and sell it over-priced.

The biggest fraud is been done with the fuel oil which even if today its price is internationally low, only in Greece is been still sold over-priced. On the other hand, there are a lot of reports of frauds relating to the petrol. However the reporter Nikos Evangelatos revealed in last spring that even the milk is been adulterated, since some of the big industries buy cheap milk powder or bulk from our neibouring Balkan countries from bad quality farms. However the orange juice also is often imported in ice columns from Brazil according to Evagelatos research.

Regarding the olive oil, which is not only been bought in ridiculously low price from the producers, but it is also been exported to Italy (where is been used for making their own oils extra virgin) and a part of that is said to been imported back in Greece, of course in a higher price! Regarding the (national) competition committee who is supposed to check the illegal profit, is been proven to be entirely corrupted when on September of 2006 were arrested 3 employees (in fact the 2 of them were related) who were involved in a case of bribing from a milk industry who reported the bribing, while left to be meant that they're going to help reveal the cartel who decides the price of the milk.

Finally, the Greeks as a nation haven't learned yet to discus, instead they yell and make noise. Every form of assembly, from the pupils assembly and the parents assembly into schools, to the students assembly in the university, the assembly of the householders in a building and the parliament assembly, everywhere instead of calm and civilized discussion there are yelling and swears. By the way, in the university elections, however in the local authorities too (municipalities and prefectures) in Greece, as a world exclusive, there are political parties participating! That way, in the municipal and prefecture elections the Greeks vote the political parties! The same in the students elections too. Generally the assemblies of the students in the universities are very noisy, and that's something that characterizes generally every form of assembly in the country that the democracy and dialogue was born.

In conclusion: Greece is a country where "the thief of the thief" attribute dominates, where everybody's looking how to settle in a good position and huge importance have been given by the Greeks to the acquaintances and especially the political ones. As a country, is even worst from the Turkey. Maybe because the Turkish (conquerors of Greece for 400 years) and Albanian (the Turks brought in Greece many Albanians called ‘arbanites’) remaining have pass into the DNA of the neo-Greeksof nepotism, bribing, corruption and so on.

In a final analysis, in Greece is not important who you are, but instead what you declare that you are and what acquaintances you have. Also, in case of frauds in Greece it is usually impossible to find evidence because things are covered up (especially by the politicians) or other times something considered as a fraud in Greece is not, but considered ‘legal’ if it doesn’t break the Greek law!

Closing I will mention that Greece is a wonderful country but inhabited by people, the new (neo)-Greeks whose governances of last 30 years totally destroyed the nation that once raised philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. If you ask the Greeks who is responsible for destroying Greece the last 30 years they will answer: the politicians. But they are the ones who elected and still elect them!

However, corruption is something that characterizes all the western governments and it is not only a Greek phenomenon.

NOTICE FROM THE WRITTER

This article is a translation of a Greek article written on 2006 with some corrections and improvements. The author overexaggerates about many issues, in order to make his point clear. Furthermore in this article the writer expresses his own subjective opinion. This article was written based to media reports (TV reports and newspapers articles) which many of them are unreliable and cannot be ascertained at all. So the viewers of this article are requested to NOT accept a priory anything written in this article before they ascertain it by research of official reliable objective sources.

In Greece the only thing that changed all these years is the law for banning smoking in public places.