Over the past few days accusations have been leveled against Education Minister Andreas Demetriou, who was slammed by the opposition for wasting taxpayer’s money by opting for VIP services during stopovers at German airports while on state business.
According to reports, Demetriou racked up a €1,065 euro bill for a total of four hours of VIP lounge services at Frankfurt and Munich airports on three separate flights.
The amount of money involved is not exactly a shocker when compared to what’s being handed out in multiple pensions to some deputies and ministers every month. But what is scandalous was the minister’s response.
Demetriou reacted as if he were the victim targeted by a certain newspaper for simply doing something all state officials do. He went one step further, suggesting that ministers should not have to go through the same demeaning security as the rest of the hoi polloi. “Imagine the minister of a state waiting in line to pass through normal security checks, taking off his shoes, belt, jacket. How dignified is that for the country that he represents?” an outraged Demetriou said.
It’s not exactly dignified for those of us who pay the minister’s wages either and to add insult to injury, government ministers apparently ‘don’t look at receipts’ either according to Demetriou.
Demetriou may be only doing what other ministers and officials are doing but his response spoke volumes about his – and their – contempt for those whose money keeps then in the job and allows these perks in the first place.
No one is saying state officials should not be treated with some modicum of respect but respect is earned, and should be a two-way street, except that it’s not, as seen from government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou’s response.
“The way things are going, soon some will be seeking the breakfast accounts of government, state or parliamentary officials during their trips abroad,” he said.
Is the spokesman suggesting government officials should not be accountable for the taxpayers’ money they spend? Judging by the gag order the state recently issued on social security staff with access to data on ministerial pensions, the short answer to that would seem to be ‘yes’.
If state officials could be trusted not to squander our money on teeth implants and other scandals, there would be no need for us to know how much a breakfast cost.
But they have proven time and again that their sense of self-importance and entitlement overrides any responsibility towards the public.
And where does this all-pervading sense of entitlement come from? Perhaps the Education Minister could answer that because clearly he has it in spades.
