Κάποιοι από αυτούς τους δημοσιογράφους πιθανώς και να φιλοξενήθηκαν την περίοδο των Ο.Α. του 2004 στο δημοσιογραφικό χωριό στην Παλλήνη. Γνώριζαν ότι λίγα χιλιόμετρα από το Ολυμπιακό Στάδιο όπου πήγαιναν καθημερινά δεν υπάρχει κεντρικό σύστημα αποχέτευσης ;
Πόσα πρέπει να αλλάξουμε για να σηκώσουμε πάλι κεφάλι.
From The Sunday Times
December 20, 2009
Το Πάρτυ της διαφθοράς και αποβλήτων έχει φέρει τη χώρα κοντά στη καταστροφή 
Σκουπίδια που πετιούνται στο κέντρο πετοσφαίρισης. Που είναι το κλέος του 2004 ; Τι απέμεινε ;
A black mood has settled upon Athens. After the bonanza of European Union development aid and the euphoria of hosting the Olympics, the Greeks are shocked to realise that their gravy train has rolled off the tracks.
Forget about British MPs putting the occasional duck house on expenses. Sumptuous villas have sprouted around Athens on altogether more lavish government spoils. The carnival of corruption and waste has brought Greece close to ruin.
“The party is over,” said a senior official in the former conservative government last week as fears grew that Greece might default on its £270 billion debt and trigger another global financial crisis.
The former official, who now works in the private sector, offered a candid assessment of the Greek malaise on condition that he would not be identified. He slapped a newspaper down on his desk and jabbed at it with his finger. “This is what it is all about,” he said.
On the front page the newspaper reported that the health minister was talking to drug companies about cancelling 8m doses of swine flu vaccine. Her predecessor had ordered 16m doses, considered excessive in a country with a population of 11m. Only 320,000 people have been vaccinated since the campaign began a little more than a month ago.
“It’s a terrible waste of money,” said the former official. “It happens all the time. This is the Greek reality.”
He estimated that hosting the Olympic Games in 2004 cost Greece more than £12 billion, double what it would have been without “money flying this way, that way and often under the table”. Bribes are routinely paid by Athenians to speed up bureaucracy. Tax evasion is also rampant.
As for the new, centre-left government of George Papandreou, the prime minister, who is also the son and grandson of Greek prime ministers, the former official was dismissive. “They’re a bunch of amateurs,” he said. “Not one of them has ever earned a penny in the private sector.”
