Hospital head suspended for far-right links

The ultra-right Golden Dawn yesterday described as “provocative” a decision by Health Minister Andreas Lykourentzos to suspend the head of a state hospital in Tripoli, central Greece, after she allowed party members to check whether migrants hired by patients’ families to work as personal nurses had residence papers and were issuing receipts.

Eleni Sourouni told a local TV station in an interview that nurses without papers should not be employed and said she could work with the party to tackle the issue. The government’s decision to re-examine tax measures that are clearly problematic in terms of implementation is a very positive development as it is clear there are several areas that need to be seriously amended. There have been numerous cases where the inability of the state to crack down on illicit trade has led to rather ludicrous solutions, such as the more recent leveling of the tax on heating oil with that of fuel in an effort to curb adulteration and illegal imports. The Greek government has managed to regain a lot of credibility thanks to its strict fiscal policies and it is currently in a position to negotiate some significant changes to the austerity program with the country’s international creditors. The past few years have shown us that predictions made on paper rarely turn out exactly as planned in practice, which is why when it comes to something as important as tax reforms, we need bold measures governed by logic as well as a convincing plan from the government.