Hefty price of EU law infringements
After 25 years as a full EU member, Greece has run out of excuses for breaching community law. Repeated violations have not just tarnished the country’s image in the eyes of the Commission and our EU peers. They have proved to be a financial burden, as systematic infringements have led to the European Court and the imposition of sanctions. Even worse – as demonstrated by the illegal garbage dumps across the country – is that bad habits take a greater toll on us than the EU penalties. Now we are faced with another two cases. The first is the revision of the Greek public deficit for the year 2005 by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical service, up from 4.3 percent to 4.5 percent. This figure has taken into account the 518-million-euro penalty imposed for breaching community regulations regarding the implementation of projects under the Third Community Support Framework (CSFIII). Basically, a concerted effort toward fiscal rehabilitation is being undermined by the poor handling of previous administrations. In the second issue at hand, the Commission wants Greece before the European Court over the privatization of Olympic Airlines. A relapse into the 2000-2003 practice involving heavy state subsidization of Greece’s flag carrier is obviously out of the question. Worse, OA continues to record significant losses, making a solution all the more difficult. The pressure being applied by the Commission is making the closure of OA more likely. However, this is a problem for Athens and not for the bureaucrats in Brussels. Successive governments should have come up with a workable solution long ago instead of buying time at premium rates. Governments, public administration and contractors believe they can break the rules under the noses of EU officials. We must shed this type of provincialism. Being a member of the EU is no doubt an advantage for Greece. Complying with the rules by no means prevents the country from advancing its national interest during negotiations among the EU 25. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Abiding by EU laws would strengthen Greece’s bargaining power.
