AFP, Rhodes :
The European Union flag has often been put to the torch on the protest-hit streets of Athens-but in poorer towns and villages across Greece Brussels folk get a warmer reception.
The reason is simple: European regional support funds helping to keep local businesses alive.
Since the start of the Greek crisis, the EU’s point man on regional development, Commissioner Johannes Hahn, has been criss-crossing the country in search of viable businesses to back.
And some cases, local authorities are actually happier dealing with the European bureaucracy than the Greek authorities. “Athens gives us very little financial autonomy, all we get to manage is debt,” said Ioannis Machairidis, governor of the southern Aegean islands.
“The (state) bureaucracy is terrible. Government effectively boils down to a finance minister whose only care is to meet fiscal goals,” he added.
