Bertelsmann research: Greece among the leaders in managing the coronavirus crisis

Greece is at the top of the ranking in the comparative study on crisis management and resilience in 29 OECD and European Union countries conducted by the Bertelsmann Foundation.

The study assessed, among other things, the resilience of democracy, the organization of crisis management and the resilience of the welfare state during the pandemic.

“Greece has achieved top positions in the rating scales and is one of the surprisingly successful states in managing the pandemic and one of the well-placed states,” say the researchers.

Specifically, in the category “Resilience of governance”, Greece is ranked ninth among 29 countries, with a score of 7.56 out of 10, behind New Zealand, South Korea, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Canada and Switzerland. Below Greece are Finland, Austria, Japan, the Netherlands and Portugal, while below average are Estonia, Chile, France, Spain, Belgium, Turkey and the Czech Republic, among others. and the USA and in the last places are Mexico, Hungary and Poland.

Researchers point out that in Greece there is a strong improvement in governance compared to the pre-crisis period, while in the category of effective policy-making it ranks second, thanks to the “evidence-based and expert advice of policy-making”.

In addition, measures to deal with the crisis were announced in detail to the public and discussed openly in Parliament, while national coordination efforts proved smooth and sensitive to local concerns and the government responded quickly each time the cases increased. In contrast to most other survey countries, civil society organizations were informed and included in the measures, the study found.

In the category “Resilience of the Republic”, Greece is ranked eighth among 29, with a score of 8.5 out of 10 and points out the “particularly credible commitments to lift restrictions on civil liberties and rights at the first opportunity”, but also the fact that “The parties, despite the polarization, appeared united at the beginning of the pandemic”, although he saw “the united front disintegrate in the second wave” of the pandemic.

In the category “Resilience of the Welfare State”, Greece is in tenth place, with a score of 6.38 out of 10, as, as reported, the health system was underfunded and unprepared before the crisis, but the government managed to double the number of ICU beds “.

The Bertelsmann Foundation also cites the conclusion of its study that in countries where press freedom and civil rights, the independence of the judiciary and central democratic values ​​were already eroding before the crisis, disturbing developments were further consolidated as a result of the actions taken. in the name of the battle for the coronavirus crisis.

Countries that were considered democratically resilient, he adds, have proven capable of demonstrating resilience even in times of crisis.

In Turkey, Hungary, Mexico and Croatia, efforts to curtail key democratic institutions continued during the crisis, while pressure on media professionals increased significantly. Greece, however, is among the eight countries that “managed to show a high degree of credibility in terms of the proportionality of restrictions on freedoms.”

Follow Skai.gr on Google News
and be the first to know all the news