We are a rich but very badly managed country

In his interview in Newsweek magazine, Mr. Papandreou described Greece as one of the richest but worst-managed countries. Among many other things, Mr. Papandreou underlined that "the world economic crisis is showing our weakness even more" and asked Greek citizens for some real time in order for the results to be seen. "At this moment people are in very bad shape since the measures are very recent" he said.

The journalist Stefan Theil asked him about all the new measures and he mentioned the new pension scheme, the opengov website, the e-prescription scheme, the registration of all public servants, the "fast track law" for business etc.

He also referred to "monopolies and cartels that hold the prices up and the services rendered by professionals in all areas, from pharmacies to transport companies". He also noted that there is an effort to stop tax evasion with all the satellite images of pools etc. and the publicise the tax sheets of persons or companies that evade on the website.