Are Europeans so corrupt?

Last week a former coach and referee were convicted over bribery charges. A Transport Malta architect and a director and an employee of a road-construction company were accused of corruption, with the prosecution alleging that the architect and director pocketed some €500,000 by inflating bills. Another man involved in the scrap metal business admitted producing false bills that were presented to Transport Malta.

Could it be that some people prefer to believe that many others around them are corrupt so that they will find it easier to be corrupt themselves?- Fr Joe Borg

In one case there was a conviction after a legal process. In the other case there are accusations. Although the legal maxim states that everyone is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty, the perceptual maxim goes that one is guilty even after having been declared innocent.

The comments on various websites are a testament to this. The accused have already been convicted by popular jury. Very sad.

This is the reason why while I can understand the publication of names when people are taken to court, I do not agree with thepublication of names of those being investigated by the police.

One of the reasons why presumed innocence is replaced by presumed guilt is that most of the Maltese, like the majority of Europeans, believe that corruption is a major problem in their country.

A 153 page long Eurobarometer study pegs the European figure at a 74 per cent and the Maltese figure at a whopping 88 per cent (www.scribd.com/doc/81985111/Eurobarometer-Survey).

The study did not gauge levels of corruption in Europe but the levels of the perception of corruption. Perceptions and reality can be one and the same thing but can also be different altogether. It is interesting to note that 67 per cent of Europeans say they are not personally affected by corruption in their daily lives and just eight per cent say they have been asked or expected to pay a bribe in the past year.

The figures for Malta show that only four per cent say they were asked for a bribe during the past year.

When compared with 2009 survey figures, the Maltese now believe that corruption is less of a major problem; that there is less corruption in our national institutions and that our national politicians are less corrupt.

Besides, while 52 per cent believe our politicians are corrupt (European average is 57 per cent), almost 80 per cent are of theopinion that our businessmen are corrupt.

It is a pity that the media do not investigate strongly enough this perceived level of corruption among businessmen.

My earlier reference to the hiatus between the perception and the reality of corruption does not in any way imply there is no corruption. The European Commission itself estimates that the economic costs incurred by corruption in the EU countries are in the region of €120 billion per year. What I am trying to infer is that in all probability there are more honest people around than the results of the Eurobarometer imply.

Could it be that some people prefer to believe that many others around them are corrupt so that they will find it easier to be corrupt themselves?

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• There is no need to fear Greeks bearing gifts since they are now in no position to bring any. Greece has today become the poor man of Europe.

Finance ministers burn the midnight oil to bring a bailout of epic proportions to the table which is hailed by some as a great sign of solidarity and by others as very expensive polyfilla.

Would this bailout turn out to be a modern version of the Trojan Horse which promises one thing, that is the salvation of Greece and Europe, but would eventually bring another, that is more problems for the eurozone?

It is true that the Greeks brought on themselves the disaster they find themselves in – which also threatens the stability of Europe.

It is true that no one owes them a living. However, The Tabletchallenged the sanity of these austerity measures in its February 18 editorial .

“Measured by the savagery of their effects on the very fabric of Greek society, the European Union’s policies towards Greece demand to be called into question. Examining the economic logic behind those policies, however, leads to an even more alarming conclusion.

“Among political and economic commentators of Left andRight, pro-European as well as Eurosceptic, there are almost none who think that the treatment prescribed, austerity piled on austerity year after year, has the remotest chance of working. In other words, it is the destiny of Greece to suffer worse and worse – until what? Revolution? Famine? Anarchy? Civil war?” These are ominous words that should not be ignored.

There is another point to consider. Are the ordinary people who are being forced to make sacrifices upon sacrifices the major culprits that brought about this crisis; although they also benefitted from and abused the system that led to this disaster?

Or are they also paying for the crimes of others who today are still enjoying the fruits of their tax evasion and earnings from corruption?

Charitable organisations in Greece are feeding 250,000 people daily. I struggle to think that there are among them those who are the main beneficiaries and the principal cause of this disaster.

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Today The Sun on Sunday hits the newsstands, the latest addition to the Murdoch media empire.

Murdoch had closed the toxic News of the World at the height of the phone-hacking scandal giving impression that he wanted to make amends. Few believed his was an act of contrition and many believed it was a cynical ploy.

Most probably The Sun onSunday will turn out to be another example of the dictum that things have to change in order to remain the same. We will most probably have another dose of gutter journalism and sensationalism, though it will perhaps be a bit more guarded.

There is nothing new under the sun.

joseph.borg@um.edu.mt