Saturday, March 6, 2010

Greece as seen by the Germans

After yesterday's call by two German politicians that Greece sell off islands, historic buildings and artworks before receiving aid, the German tabloid Bild has written an open letter to the Greek prime minister George Papandreou:
Dear prime minister,
If you're reading this, you've entered a country different from yours. You're in Germany.
Here, people work until they are 67 and there is no 14th-month salary for civil servants. Here, nobody needs to pay a €1,000 bribe to get a hospital bed in time.
Our petrol stations have cash registers, taxi drivers give receipts and farmers don't swindle EU subsidies with millions of non-existent olive trees.
Germany also has high debts but we can settle them. That's because we get up early and work all day.
We want to be friends with the Greeks. That's why since joining the euro, Germany has given your country €50bn.

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