Don’t You Wish!

February 2011

Don’t you wish that there was the same level of urgency in this country as that recently demonstrated in Greece (admittedly they have needed a €120 billion bailout). Driven by the Prime Minister George Papandreou, he has initiated the following changes in only a few months:

• A government purchase will not be payable unless it is first published on the Web for all to see – Greece has a notorious record of corruption

• A few months ago, they did not even know how many civil servants they had. They now have a full online survey of their duties and qualifications

• They are cracking down on tax evasion by using satellite photos to see who has real estate that they are not declaring – simply counting the number of swimming pools are showing huge discrepancies

• They are downsizing the number of politicians and civil servants with an administrative reform that reduces the number of municipal governments from 1,034 to 325 and regional prefectures from 67 to 13

• Collective bargaining has been abolished

• Companies are now free to set their own wages

• Greece has opened up its market to foreign investment. China is investing $7 billion in Greece’s main port of Piraeus, stated to become Asia’s new hub for all of South East Europe

• They are focussing on making it easier to start businesses and forcing Greece to become competitive

It has taken us more than 2 months to get a name approved for a CC!