EU Commission: Corruption Across EU Costs €120 Billion 196
cold fjord writes with news that the EU has completed its first report on corruption in member states, and the results aren't looking too good. From the article: "'The extent of corruption in Europe is 'breathtaking' and it costs the EU economy at least 120bn euros (£99bn) annually, the European Commission says. EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem has presented a full report on the problem. She said the true cost of corruption was 'probably much higher' than € 120bn. Three-quarters of Europeans surveyed for the Commission study said that corruption was widespread, and more than half said the level had increased. 'The extent of the problem in Europe is breathtaking, although Sweden is among the countries with the least problems,' Ms Malmstroem wrote in Sweden's Goeteborgs-Posten daily. The cost to the EU economy is equivalent to the bloc's annual budget. For the report the Commission studied corruption in all 28 EU member states. The Commission says it is the first time it has done such a survey. "
Re:... meanwhile in USA ... (Score:1, Insightful)
I thought smart people came to Slashdot. I didn't realize Fixed News Fuckwits were paid to troll here too.
You should have sharted. It would have been more useful than your ODS garbage.
Re: "probably" much higher? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Relation to Debt Crisis? (Score:5, Insightful)
...which is why those hardcore libertarians running Sweden are counted "among the countries with the least problems," right?
120Billion? (Score:2, Insightful)
Try like 38 Trillion if you do a little Math on the LIBOR rigging.
None of these people EVER go to jail.
Remember that when you go to get a small business loan and want to work for yourself, instead of going on Welfare and working 50 hour weeks at 4 different jobs.
Sorry we can't give you a loan, you are not Microsoft, or McDonalds.
Too much inclusion (Score:3, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Too much inclusion (Score:5, Insightful)
If that's the cost of bringing those nations up to Western European or even Scandinavian standards then what's the problem?
No one's under any illusion that expansion means bringing countries into the EU with problems, in fact, that's kind of the point. The goal is to sort them out and hence make Europe ever stronger.
I live in Western Europe, I always have, and I'm happy to pay that cost. It's nice to know we're living on an ever more secure and ever more prosperous continent. Far better than the alternative of having constant repeats of Yugoslavia on our borders over and over and over which cost far more again in terms of military effort to contain or defuse the problem, far higher cost in terms of lives, and far higher cost in terms of ever more desperate people emigrating West trying to escape the war not able to bring anything with them, not even an education, because even their schools had been bombed.
Re: "probably" much higher? (Score:5, Insightful)
Corruption isn't just 100 billion dollar bad. If it was, any steadfast leader would pay it each year to remove it. Corruption is destroy your government, society, and civilization bad, and in the short run people's lives can be ruined.
Exactly. And that is before we factor in the cost in human lives. For example see the incredible increase in suicide rates in Spain in the wake of its scandalous banking and housing corrupticon, wheremajority of the top bankers and politicians [wikipedia.org] have been implicated or sentenced but not jailed in corruption cases.. It got so bad that the bailed out banks were forced to tone down their house repossessions [huffingtonpost.com] as pensioners were leaping from the windows to their deaths when the police came knocking to throw them out into the street. (tone down, not stop).
Isn't it funny that you almost never see a graphic displaying suicide statistics, especially lately. If there is one statistic a corrupt politician does not want the common folk to see too often, this must be it...
Re:... meanwhile in USA ... (Score:5, Insightful)
We do not have "corruption commission" in the States, therefore we do not have any solid figure of how much corruption is costing the American taxpayers.
I hear you guys call this "campaign contribution". Maybe that will help you find some figures -- I am told they are rather outlandish.
Re:Relation to Debt Crisis? (Score:5, Insightful)
BTW, in socialist countries, welfare is a kind of bribe, it keeps the poor masses living on those welfare payment in line, making sure they keep voting for the political parties who keep promising them the best short-term deal.
Because Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg and Sweden are well known for their "poor masses".
Re:... meanwhile in USA ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't worry, the biggest difference is that corruption is legal in the US, while it's illegal in the EU. Apart from that detail, it's business as usual.
It's funny that it's the European Commission talking about corruption. All top-level politicians in Europe are in bed with the business world. They keep trying to pass corporate-friendly legislation and create new tax-evasion routes. Sometimes, it's so blatant that they have to retreat. Often, these legislations pass undetected. Politicians spend some time in public office acting as corporate moles. After that, they are given comfortable positions in corporations as a reward for their good services. This behaviour is publicly known and, honestly I can't see any way out of this shit. If someone tries to change anything, they'll come up with some "sexual scandal" to silence him. Just look at what happened to Hollande because of the tax raises on the rich.
Europe is fucked, just like the USA. The foxes took over the hen house.
Re:... meanwhile in USA ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Having a mistress is not a scandal. What people do in their private sexual lives is not my business. It's a shame that the American puritanism has managed to come across the pond and is being used as a political weapon here in Europe.
Maybe this is a strange concept for you Americans, but most Europeans don't give a fuck about politician's private lives. It's what they do at their work that matters. Anything else is just diversion used by the hidden powers for manipulation.