Tag Archives: public sector

Editorials

The moment of truth

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Mr. Nikos Konstandaras is managing editor and a columnist of Kathimerini, the leading Greek morning daily.  He is also a contributor to The BusinessThinker.com

This editorial is also published in Kathimerini.

If there is anything positive in these feverish days, it is that no one can pretend not to understand the severity of the crisis, be they in Greece or elsewhere.

The fact that the government is preparing measures that include tens of thousand of layoffs in the public sector and a further reduction in pensions means that it understands it has no room to maneuver: It will do that which it fears will lead to its fall. It has to deal not only with the dictates of the troika but also the fact that even its strongest supporters — such as France — can no longer hide their exasperation with Greece’s inability to carry out policy.

Today not even the most zealous of conspiracy theorists can convince anyone that the turbulence in German politics, the cracks in the French banking system and the rollercoaster rides on the international markets are nothing but a concerted effort to buy Greece on the cheap. Continue reading →

Editorials

The right people for the job

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Alexis Papachelas is a guest editorial writer to The Business Thinker. He is currently the Executive Editor of the long standing and highly respected daily Greek newspaper “Kathimerini”.

Greece’s politicians have at last realized that a number of the crucial issues facing this debt-ridden nation (such as the privatization of dysfunctional public utilities and the complex negotiations regarding the country’s mammoth financial woes) cannot possibly be solved without some assistance from private sector technocrats.

The existing employees in the public sector have proved themselves quite incapable of dealing with the challenges of the day. The entire state apparatus depends on a small number of experienced people — but these will not suffice. The issues at hand are complicated and the representatives of Greece’s international creditors are extremely demanding and skilled.

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Editorials

THE FAILURE OF THE PRIVATE SECTOR IN GREECE

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Dr. Periklis Gogas is an invited contributor to The Business Thinker magazine. He is a faculty member at Democritus University of Thrace, Greece, teaching Macroeconomics, Banking and Finance

For many years now in Greece, even before the recent fiscal crisis, the public sector and the government employees were targeted by Greek national media and the public as the source of many problems that clouded the country’s future. At the center of the debate there is always the myth of the “high” salaries paid in the public sector, the constitutional provision for the permanence of public servants and their alleged low productivity.  At the same time, many young people in Greece have as a career objective to work for the public sector. Continue reading →