ABSTRACT
‘Fuel smuggling is a critical problem: not only because it is estimated to cost €1billion per year but also because it takes place in a period of fiscal difficulty which sees legitimate taxpayers paying a heavy, almost exhausting price’. Although this is only an excerpt from a political speech in the Hellenic Parliament, the phrase of former Prime Minister Lucas Papademos is highly symbolic because it sketches out different but interconnected dimensions of the Greek crisis. The world financial crisis is far from over and the Greek problem has been interwoven into it. Along with political economy models, there are two parameters which also contribute to the understanding of the Greek crisis by international media. The first is that the problem of the Hellenic economy is not imaginary, but an existing and serious one. The second parameter is related to the reaction of foreign journalists, who were not familiar with modern Greek culture when they approached developments in the country.
