The FINANCIAL — The Task Force for Greece, launched by President Barroso in July 2011 to provide technical assistance to the Greek authorities, publishes its fourth progress report.
The Task Force, which has staff both in Athens and Brussels, identifies and coordinates technical assistance (TA) to help Greece deliver on its commitments in the context of its economic adjustment programme, and to accelerate the absorption of EU funds. Assistance focuses on measures to enhance competitiveness, growth and employment.
During the first quarter of 2013, the Greek authorities made greater use of technical assistance to support a broader range of reforms. The TFGR now supports an extensive range of reforms in 12 principal policy areas. In addition to the policy areas described in the last quarterly report1, the TFGR has become active in providing TA for reforming the regulatory framework for transport and utility infrastructure. This aims to enhance performance of these critical sectors as well as to support privatisation and completion of the land registry. TA has also started to support projects in the areas of renewable energy, environmental protection and tourism, according to European Commission.
The depth of TFGR engagement in each policy area has also increased. Each of the 12 policy domains comprises a number of projects of varying scale and complexity. In total, the TFGR is, or has been, involved with 93 work streams in the 12 policy areas.
The delivery of TA intensified significantly in the first quarter of 2013. Over 30% of the TA (measured in expert days/meetings), or 40% of total expert visits, arranged by the TFGR since its creation in September 2011, was delivered in this quarter.
The TFGR also supports the Greek authorities in a number of other ways. For example, TFGR staff contribute to policy dialogue (e.g. in the areas of health or privatisation), and facilitate interaction between European Commission services and Greek ministries on specific infringement cases.
In response to demands expressed by the Greek authorities, the TFGR organises the delivery of TA to support a wide range of structural reforms to be implemented by the Greek government, primarily for reforms agreed in the context of the economic adjustment programme. The Greek authorities have identified the most important needs in terms of their urgency, maturity and contribution to lasting structural reform in Greece.
For the different reform processes in which it is involved, the TFGR typically assists by agreeing a work programme with the Greek authorities. This usually specifies clear deliverables, deadlines and intermediate milestones, terms of reference for TA assignments, and defines the required resources and the Greek entities whose involvement will be needed.
The TFGR mobilises expertise or targeted support from Member States and other potential providers of TA. These assistance providers include around 20 Member States and a number of international organisations (EIB, EIF, OECD, Council of Europe, IMF, UNECE, World Bank, EBRD) plus EFTA and EEA states Norway and Iceland.
Over half of TFGR coordinated technical assistance, as measured by expert days on the ground, supported reforms in the areas of budget and administrative reform. Other policy domains as measured by this indicator include the business environment, anti-money laundering/anti-corruption, and health. A total of 240 expert missions have been organised, and 24 dedicated workshops or events have been organised up to the end of March 2013.
In addition to the organisation of short-term missions, the TFGR has arranged grants and/or contribution or delegation agreements with international organisations (such as IMF, UNECE, WBG) as well as national public bodies for TA to Greece totalling more than €8 million.
The areas where technical assistance coordinated by the TFGR has gained the most momentum are public finance management and tax administration; acceleration of cohesion policy projects; administrative reform of the central government; business environment including reform of export and customs administration; and reform of health policy.
More recently, good progress has been made in reforms in the area of anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, access to justice and network industries and services.
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