Barroso’s “task force for Greece” is coming to Athens in a hurry

In its current issue, German magazine DER SPIEGEL reports on the notorious second thoughts by Germans, Finns, Dutch, and generally all those who had not been positively predisposed to continuing the support toward Greece and other Eurozone countries which might need a "new rescue" shortly.

The relevant story, also embellished by the very telling title "The timetable is threatened", hosts a compendium of complaints that continue to reflect the eurosceptic in Central Europe as concerns a new agreement to support the weak links in the EU, focusing this time not so much on new loans, but on the assignment of new responsibilities - and probably new funds – to the mechanisms of financial stability, both the existing EFSF, as well as the …future ESM.

The author clearly writes about "decisions of the special summit in Brussels for saving the Euro, which will have unpleasant side effects", stressing that what the Europeans leaders have ignored are the significant disagreements, which can lead to significant delays when national parliaments of several member-states will be asked to adopt the "revision of laws for the EFSF, due to its new additional responsibilities."

According to the columnist, this situation can become a problem for Berlin, as it did insist on including private investors, through the stability mechanism, in the "reorganization costs of Greece and any other European country."

Within this climate Klaus Regling, head of the provisional EFSF, seems to have been engaged in a race to disburse the necessary funds to grant Greece the planned installment of 5,8 billion euros in mid-September, since the Fund now replaces the bilateral borrowing system created for our country in 2010 by the Eurozone governments.

The problem is that the EFSF might not be ready to release the next installment since it would need to raise the relevant funds from the markets by the end of August, a time period which is not enough. In such a case, Regling might request the money from Italy and Spain, but this also is uncertain given the economic problems that these two countries are facing.

At the same time, the situation is being impeded by the significant differences in the budget, and particularly by the dramatic shortfall in revenue (the black hole has already reached 4,5 billion) and the ineffectiveness in the program of privatizations.

Hence the rushed arrival in our country of the so-called "Task Force", created on the initiative of Commission President José Manuel Barroso, code-named Task Force for Greece. It will undertake the task of coordinating, monitoring and providing technical and other assistance to the government.

Horst Reichenbach, a former senior executive of the European Commission, has already been appointed head of the 25-member team. Reichenbach will be required to submit quarterly progress reports on the convergence and privatizations program, and is expected to take action after August 25.