* We don't have Euro but we are pegged to Euro (de facto fluctuation 0%). IMHO in this regard we are similar to Greece - while we have freedom to change rate we have not used it.
* Both countries were not prepared for crisis if we compare them to Estonia as example.
In some aspects we were in very similar situation. Now what's different in my opinion: Austerity measures in Lithuania were very strict. We had so called "Reforms night" there our newly elected parliament made a lot of unpopular decisions (e.g. salaries decreased in public sector) and actually some of them of questionable long-term value while good in short-term (e.g. they cut payments for private pension funds what saved money in short-term but I have no idea what will happen in the future). Meanwhile in Greece it was really hard to do anything like that because everything they did was met with big opposition from society. As well little details like very early pension in Greece is not helping either. We had big buffer to go in debt without facing serious problem when borrowing money. Lastly we are still quite poor country and it is barely could be worse than it is sometimes :-) Greece is quite rich country.
Austerity measures in Greece were also very strict. Greece is the only country in the developed world in the last fifty years that managed to lower the deficit by 5% in a single year. Salaries at the public sector have been reduced by 40%.
As for your last statement, we’re a rich country because we didn’t embrace communism as you guys did.
Yes, they were quite strict in Greece as well but they were met with constant labor union strikes. I guess the main reason why we did better we had less to lose.
You are right about communism being the reason why you are rich and we are not but there was no choice for us (foreign army in our territory and we erased from map as independent country) so "embrace" is wrong word.
Officially no, but your social policies (30hr work week, 1 week of paid by country vacations and others that were highlighted in the newspapers when the crisis started) place you even beyond former communist countries :)
* Corruption level here and in Greece is quite similar in my opinion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index . I think in recent years we got better but still far from perfect.
* We don't have Euro but we are pegged to Euro (de facto fluctuation 0%). IMHO in this regard we are similar to Greece - while we have freedom to change rate we have not used it.
* Both countries were not prepared for crisis if we compare them to Estonia as example.
In some aspects we were in very similar situation. Now what's different in my opinion: Austerity measures in Lithuania were very strict. We had so called "Reforms night" there our newly elected parliament made a lot of unpopular decisions (e.g. salaries decreased in public sector) and actually some of them of questionable long-term value while good in short-term (e.g. they cut payments for private pension funds what saved money in short-term but I have no idea what will happen in the future). Meanwhile in Greece it was really hard to do anything like that because everything they did was met with big opposition from society. As well little details like very early pension in Greece is not helping either. We had big buffer to go in debt without facing serious problem when borrowing money. Lastly we are still quite poor country and it is barely could be worse than it is sometimes :-) Greece is quite rich country.