Independence is key to credibility

One of the biggest and most important reforms achieved as a result of the memorandum commitments Greece agreed to with its foreign creditors was making the country’s tax collection mechanism independent from the political forces that be.

The Greek political system, however, obviously could not tolerate such a state of affairs as it undermined its influence over this important part of the state machine and its power.

On Friday, the government called for the resignation of Katerina Savvaidou, general secretary for public revenues, who faces charges of breach of duty because in January she allegedly extended the time that TV stations had to hand over revenues from a special tax on advertisements.
The way that the government has handled these allegations should be of concern to all of us.

Such orchestrations and haste will come at a great cost because the credibility of the country relies on the independence of its most crucial institutions.