MEPS + EU Commission v.President Reding to EuroFora: Fight Corruption in order to help Growth !

*Strasbourg/EU Parliament/Angelo Marcopolo/- EU Commission's vice-President, Viviane Reding, speaking today to "EuroFora", after a Press Conference on Legal matters (see Infra) in Strasbourg, anounced a Series of New Measures in order to Fight efficiently against Corruption, and her action was Timely completed by a parallel move, earlier today, by 3 mainstream MEPs who play leading roles mainly in EU Parliament's brand new Committee against Organized Crime, timely pointing also to what Corruption costs in terms of Growth :

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Questioned by "EuroFora" if she is currently preparing something in face of the current need to definitively end up with widespread Corruption in certain sectors aggravated amidst the Global Crisis, which upset more and more EU Citizens who feel many among its consequences, the competent EU Commissioner in charge of Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship was positive :

- "Yes, we (EU Commission) have already put on the table a Proposal on the Corruption against EU Budget", replied Reding to "EuroFora"s query.
- In fact, it's "Commissioner (Algirdas) Semeta (in charge of Audit and Anti-Fraud, etc) and myself, (who are) proposing Criminal Law" Measures, the EU Commissioner explained.

+ "And we are going to continue working on this, towards moving in the end to a an effcient European Policy action against Corruption and Criminality, but for (protecting) the (EU) Taxpayers Money", she promissed.

However, since such moves are destinated to guarantee a better EU "Future", as the competent EU Commissioner acknowledged, meanwhile, the obviously welcome initiative of Reding (an experienced former MEP herself), could find a timely Complementary action from EU Parliament :

- Three mainstream MEPs from the biggest €uroArea Countries, Manfred Weber from Germany, Veronique Mathieu from France, and Salvatore Iacolino from Italy, who are working inside EU Parliament's New Commission against Organized Crime, in a Press Conference in Strasbourg focused on "the Fight against Corruption in Europe", anounced a series of proposed, drastic Measures to help the EU act efficiently also on Present and/or continuing cases, (which might also involve on-going consequences of acts which started to be committed in the past) :

The 3 MEPs denounced, inter alia, the fact that Corruption Costs to the EU more than +1% of GD Growth, while, according to other estimations, this costs could bypass more than + 170 Billions €..  At the same time, Polls (f.ex. by EuroBarometer, etc) show that 75 % of EU Citizens feel today "Anxious" about Corruption...

=> Therefore, they intend to push towards the introduction of concrete Measures including, among many others, also the Facilitation of "WistleBlowers" ready to denounce Corruption, more practical Safeguards particularly on Public Procurments, etc., and even Sanctions against those who knew the existence of various cases of Corruption, f.ex. in the Public Sector, etc., but failed to do their Duty to reveil it, by reporting such damaging and unlawful acts, instead of Covering them up...
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The topical case of Greece is, in this regard, a good, concrete Example :

Most Greek People, both SMEs and other productive Businesses, as well as Poor and/or fragile Persons, bear a heavy burden just in order to continue to pay a disproportionate number of State and Public Sector civil servants, many among whom have notoriously been scandalously appointed in unproductive, cushy jobs, some being abusive political lackeys of Past regimes, and certain being even involved in Corruption and/or other Crimes, after receiving permanent financial a.o. advantages during a 30 Years period (1981-2011+) with several Clientelist and/or Nepotist former Governments, which has notoriously provoked the excessive Debt, initially hidden during 1999-2002 but suddenly busted by the 2008-2010 Global Crisis etc., so that, now, it's mathematically impossible to persist paying them during even more Decades, (f.ex. by early "Retirements", i.e. for doing absolutely Nothing !), simply because this obviously risks to lead to an aggravated Deadlock by extending (instead of reducing) a "Structural Deficit" in the Public Sector, while also the question of Responsibilities and Sanctions (financial, administrative and/or penal) for at least some more or less serious cases of Corruption and/or other Crimes, which remain scandalously unpunished since the 1980ies, has become today Of Crucial importance, both for Economic Efficiency and Social Justice/Healthy Political Democracy reasons, strongly felt by a wide, cross-party Majority of Citizens who sincerely wish a kind of "Renaissance" of the Greek State, needing an adequate Anti-Corruption campaign.

Otherwise, i.e. as long as persists the  Public Sector's Structural Deficit (notoriously provoked mainly by Corruption in the Past), the Debt problem risks to become too complicated to solve. While, on the contrary, a Healthy "cure d' amaigrissement" of that Public Sector, mainly via an adequate Anti-Corruption campaign (comp. Supra), could succeed to make a Just and Efficient Solution much more Simplified...

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