And for Germany and corruption, while there may not be as much corruption inside Germany, German companies are in the top when it involves other countries (Submarines in PT, don't remember what in Greece, etc). Heck, they were even tax deductible until recently: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/1995-08-06/germany-wh...
- Not asking for a receipt when going to a private doctor to save on VAT
- Going to an unofficial dealer instead of getting the car serviced on the official brand stores
- Getting an hospital appointment to a know doctor via networking instead of waiting months for a random doctor at the district hospital
- Not declaring 100% of the income to IRS
- Renting rooms to university students without contracts
- Double accounting on restaurants
- Spending up construction license approvals on the countryside
- Black job market for farm and construction workers
- Work positions that are already given, when displayed on the Government newspaper
- Jobs by being the "sun/daughter/cousin of" instead of proper hiring process
Yes, not everyone makes use of those tricks.
Which is why I mentioned "but many here don't understand you cannot just change a country's culture by forcing them to strictly follow EU rules.".
The VW case is seen by many as an exception and usually every corruption case tends to be dealt exemplary, whereas in my home country (PT) corruption, specially the small one (owning favors) is still seen as profitable, because no big fish really gets prosecuted and it is the only way some things are actually done.
We know for such that such cases will drag in court and be archived after a few years of public discussion on the media.
Good luck trying to live in the southern or eastern Europe trying to do without small favors. It is possible and many people strive for it, but it isn't easy.