Some member states have found a new opportunity to grow and increase their power in the energy crisis plaguing Europe. They use it on the one hand to increase the money they collect and on the other hand to strengthen their customer relationship with the citizens. At the same time, they increase the number of civil servants and create new expenses-opportunities of enrichment for those who decide and distribute them.
Paradox; Not at all. This is what states do, i.e. the bureaucracies that run the world. They are constantly inventing ways to enhance their power.
Let us examine the case of the Greek state:
with the increase in the cost of energy, the problem created by the inflated electricity/natural gas bills and the cost of heating and driving oil for households had to be immediately addressed.
Energy is very highly taxed. The cost of energy for the consumer is shaped by the prices of oil and natural gas, added not only by the 24% VAT, but also by the special energy taxes which are two and three times higher than the corresponding ones in the EU . Essentially, the cost is doubled by these taxes and other third-party charges. So when the price of oil and natural gas increases, the revenue collected by the State from indirect taxes on the energy consumed increases accordingly.
The logical thing – for all but the administrators – would be for the state to say that it is reducing taxes to reduce the bill.
But that didn’t happen. First Greece, and then the entire European Union (all of its member countries), decided that it would maintain its very high tax rate, collect multiple government revenues, and then subsidize households and businesses to cope with the problem. In this way, the state succeeds in increasing its income, and playing the role of “father” to the citizens by giving them money so that they don’t freeze and continue their walks.
So with one hand the state takes much more money from the citizens’ pockets and with the other it “spoils” them by returning part of what it took from them. In this way, it increases the money it collects and at the same time acquires the possibility to buy votes by giving subsidies in order to strengthen the dependence of citizens on the state, that is, the client relationship that always aims to buy votes. With this method, government coffers are full of taxes due to the energy crisis and politicians have increased their influence on citizens.
Let us consider a second case
Because Europe’s costs have been dramatically increased by the increase in the cost of natural gas it imports from Russia and the consequent increase in LNG it imports by ship from anywhere, the EU decided to impose a price cap on Russian gas.
Russia responded by shutting off the natural gas supply to freeze Europe. Which, in order not to freeze, decided to cut energy consumption. This is how it tries to avoid the closing of its industries – mainly in the large industrial countries of the North (see primarily Germany). The Germans asked the rest of the countries to cut all the energy they consume by 15% so that there is enough imported energy for everyone. European solidarity suddenly.
So the governments in the member countries called their large industrialists, who have energy-intensive industrial units, and asked them to close some units of their industries in order to achieve the energy savings requested by the EU. In order to do this they are given a subsidy that covers the cost of the workers and leaves them with a significant profit on top of that. Less than what they would have if they continued to produce, but, so to speak, “without getting tired”.
That is, a heavy industry in a member country that has three energy-intensive production units closes one and receives a subsidy from its government. With 1/3 of the subsidy, it continues to pay the workers it would normally lay off by closing the unit, and the rest of the money goes into the company’s coffers. The state budget is burdened, but it does not matter, because the burden will be covered by the EU. The dependence of entrepreneurs and industrial workers on the state is growing. And the State, however, must limit electricity consumption.
In Greece, three Greek ministers, the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Environment and Energy, and the Deputy Minister of Finance, have announced that in order to reduce electricity consumption by 10% by public services, an “energy officer” will be appointed in each service which will check if the current economy is applied. So new recruitments of energy managers.
This is a good position, because it is not just a “janitor” who turns off the lights, but an employee who will decide on the supply of LED lamps, changing energy-intensive machines, strengthening the insulation of buildings, etc. That is, it will recommend spending from selected suppliers – we all understand what that means.
And the Greek government repeats the “trick” it had thought of for the evaluation of civil servants. In other words, along with the penalties for those who do not achieve the goals, it also establishes bonuses for those who achieve them.
The penalty for services that won’t limit their current consumption will be that they won’t be able to hire new employees – that is, the penalty is a reduction in customer relationship and power. The bonus for those services that reduce the current will be that their budget will increase, that is, the bonus is an increase in spending, so hiring and an increase in power. We have to admit that Greek politicians are the best at “corruption and customer relations”.
Are all these scandals? On the contrary. It is the constant way of thinking and acting of the governing politicians and bureaucrats here and everywhere, whose priority is to increase their power and strengthen client relationships with citizens. Because, quite simply, if citizens didn’t depend on politicians and government bureaucrats, they wouldn’t vote for them, they wouldn’t pay them, they wouldn’t invite them to their parties.
