Troika positions itself to apply pressure on Greece

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_07/05/2012_441010

Europe ready to 'assist Greece' with reform agenda The European Commission is ready to help Greece with its reforms within the framework of its second bailout program, a spokeswoman said on Monday, after parties opposed to the Greek bailout performed strongly in the country's election. "We stand ready to continue to assist Greece with its ongoing reform agenda in the framework of the second economic adjustment program,» Pia Ahrenkilde-Hansen said. "We do not have a new government in Greece yet,» she said. «The Commission hopes and expects that the future government of Greece will respect the engagement that Greece has entered into." Greece's conservative leader began a hunt for partners to forge a coalition that protects the country's place in the euro zone. On Sunday, voters savaged the two ruling parties for imposing harsh wage and spending cuts. [Reuters]

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_689_06/05/2012_440884

EU funding for Greece could cease By Evgenia Tzortzi Greece is at risk of exclusion from European Union funds amounting to 13 billion euros for the next funding period -- 2014-20. For that period, the bloc will allocate a sum of 376 billion euros in Structural Funds to its member states, whose distribution will be determined at the end of a crucial three-month period of talks with the European authorities. The reason Greece is close to exclusion from the funding is that gross domestic product in the country appears to have reached 90 percent of the bloc’s GDP average, meaning it would no longer qualify for Structural Funds. Greece, like all EU member states, is assessed based on records for the years 2008-10. According to provisional figures, its GDP amounted to an average of 89.6 percent of the EU average in that period. The official data are expected by September and will determine whether Greece misses out on a significant amount that could boost growth in the country. and..... http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_06/05/2012_440871 EC mission sets up office in Athens The European Commission’s task force leader in Athens, Horst Reichenbach, and his team are to set up office in Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE) building in the central Athens district of Gazi in the coming days -- the first step toward establishing a permanent presence in Greece that the country’s international creditors have demanded, Kathimerini has learned. Reichenbach’s team, which currently comprises about 10 officials responsible for monitoring the implementation of reforms that Greece has pledged its foreign lenders, is to be boosted considerably, to an initial total of 40, sources said. Following lengthy negotiations about who should oversee the work of this mission, it was decided that the team would be monitored by a Greek national who is a high-ranking official of the EC’s Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), Vasilis Lelakis. The delegation is to be split into two camps that will also be overseen by two more officials, another DG ECFIN executive, Zenon Kontolemis, who is Cypriot, and Georgette Lalis, a senior member of the task force who has been working closely with Reichenbach in recent months. The entire team is to be put up at RAE’s headquarters as a midway solution until permanent offices are found, according to sources who told Kathimerini that the prospect has met with vehement opposition from employees at the regulatory authority. Most are reluctant to share space with representatives of the country’s foreign creditors and some also fear attacks by angry citizens, the sources said. s Reichenbach has expressed optimism in recent weeks that Greece will improve its finances, noting that it has already registered some progress, but he has admitted that the country’s credit sector is still a cause for concern. The task force chief said in March that budget visibility had improved hugely, allowing authorities to have an overview of spending at national, regional and local level for the first time. Asked about the further spending cuts, Reichenbach said that Greece has “tested the limits of what people can bear.”