COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION Ex-post evaluation of the Technical Assistance provided by the Task Force for Greece (TFGR) 2011-2015
Date: 2020-02-25
Institutions: Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support, European Commission
Subjects: EU aid, EU programme, Greece, distribution of EU funding, economic reform, financial aid, structural adjustment, technical cooperation

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 25.2.2020  SWD(2020) 38 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION Ex-post evaluation of the Technical Assistance provided by the Task Force for Greece (TFGR) 2011-2015 {SWD(2020) 37 final}  
 
 
Executive Summary 

The European Commission established the Task Force for Greece (TFGR) in July 2011, at the 

request  of  the  Greek  Prime  Minister.  The  mandate  of  the  TFGR  was  to  identify  and 

coordinate  technical  assistance  to  Greece,  with  the  objective  to  deliver  on  commitments 

undertaken in the context of the economic adjustment programmes of the country. The TFGR 

acted upon demand of the Greek authorities.  

The TFGR mandate included specifically the following tasks: 

1)  to  provide  technical  assistance  to  the  Greek  authorities  to  support  the  delivery  of 

commitments undertaken under the economic adjustment programme; and  

2)  to  provide  technical  assistance  to  the  Greek  authorities  for  the  acceleration  in  the 

absorption of EU funds.  

In  response  to  technical  assistance  demand  expressed  by  the  Greek  authorities,  the  TFGR 

mobilised  expertise  or  relevant  support  from  Member  States,  international  organisations  or 

other specialist bodies that have relevant experience in implementing similar reforms.  

The TFGR concluded its mandate at the end of June 2015.  

The purpose of this ex-post evaluation is to focus on the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, 

coherence and EU added value of the activities carried out and coordinated by the TFGR. 

The evaluation follows a recommendation from the European Court of Auditors (ECA) issued 

in the context of the Special Report no 19/2015: “More attention to results needed to improve 

the  delivery  of  Technical  Assistance  (TA)  to  Greece”.  The  ECA  report  raised  two  main 

questions: to reply to two key questions: 

1)  To  what  extent  was  the  EU  technical  assistance  provided  to  Greece  under  the 

coordination of the TFGR managed effectively?  

2)  To  what  extent  has  the  EU  technical  assistance  provided  to  Greece  under  the 

coordination of the TFGR contributed positively to the process of reforms in Greece? 
1 

The  three  economic  adjustment  programmes  for  Greece  are  out  of  the  scope  of  this 

evaluation. 

1 European Parliament, Special Reports of  the European Court of Auditors, 2017: “A Rolling Check-List of  recent findings” 
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2017/598604/EPRS_STU(2017)598604_EN.pdf 

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The  ex-post  evaluation  of  the  technical  assistance  provided  by  the  TFGR  gathered 

information from three main source of information:  

1.  the desk research;  

2.  the online survey, and  

3.  the interviews with the stakeholders. 

The data analysis led to the following conclusions: 

1)  The  TFGR  intervention  was  overall  relevant  in  satisfying  the  needs,  given  the 

particular  situation  in  Greece  where  immediate  and  wide-ranging  actions  were 

necessary to redress the financial and socio-economic situation. The TFGR intervened 

swiftly, mobilised the support from the Member States and the European Commission 

and adequately coordinated the requests from the Greek authorities for assistance with 

the available expertise. 

2)  The specific objectives of the TFGR were largely achieved. The TFGR succeeded 

to  a  high  extent  to  detail  the  needs  of  the  Greek  authorities  and  to  define  concrete 

actions for reform implementation. The high-level meetings played an important role 

in  elaborating  and  matching  Greek  authorities’  needs  with  the  technical  assistance. 

The  TFGR  involved  an  extensive  network  of  international  organisations,  European 

Commission representatives and experts for this purpose in order to be able to offer to 

the Greek authorities the needed support.  

3)  The  detailed  technical  assistance  needs  of  the  Greek  authorities  were  timely 

identified,  given 

the  swift  operationalisation  of 

the  TFGR.  Furthermore, 

identification and mobilisation of expertise was done in a very short period thanks to 

the direct support provided by the TFGR and by the European Commission staff, as 

well  as  thanks  to  the  solidarity  demonstrated  by  the  Member  States.  The  TFGR 

human resources and organisational set-up were efficiently deployed, making use of 

flexibility  within  the  existing  European  Commission  rules,  specifically  in  order  to 

enhance  time  efficiencies.  The  pace  of  implementation  of  the  support  for  structural 

reforms  in  Greece  was  adequate,  even  if  marked  by  contextual  and  institutional 

factors such as the political instability. 

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4)  The  size  of  TFGR’s  budget  was  appropriate  and  proportional  to  the  type  of 

intervention it was set out to achieve – integrating several funding sources to finance 

the actions of the TFGR. Administrative burden was reasonable.  

5)  Based  on  its  mandate,  the  TFGR  intervention  was  in  line with  the  commitments 

undertaken  by  the  Greek  Government  under  the  economic  adjustment 

programmes.  The  coordination  mechanism  put  in  place  at  the  level  of  European 

Commission  services  and  in  particular  between  the  TFGR  and  DG  EMPL  (in  the 

latter,  through  a  dedicated  financial  team  and  the  geographical  unit  in  charge  of 

Greece) focused primarily on avoiding potential funding overlaps. The TFGR actions 

contributed then to a coherent implementation of EU law and policies.  

6)  The  TFGR  provided  significant  EU  added  value  by  achieving  better  results  than 

what could have been achieved solely by the actions of the supported Member State, 

by leveraging on the high-level and senior expertise of various DGs of the European 

Commission and of the involved Member States. 

7)  The TFGR contributed to the development and implementation of solutions that 

addressed  national  challenges  that  have  an  impact  on  cross-border  or  Union-

wide  challenges.  In  addition,  the  TFGR  supported  the  promotion  of  EU  values,  in 

particular  solidarity  within  the  European  Union.  Both  the  European  Commission 

and  EU  Member  States  provided  expertise  and  financed  the  cost  of  such  expertise. 

Good practices were exchanged extensively in almost all policy areas both to support 

the planning of needed reforms, as well as to develop and/or pilot specific solutions 

for reforms. Out of the solutions implemented in Greece, several could be identified 

as  transferable  good  practices  (e.g.  trade  facilitation  roadmap  in  business 

environment, the realisation of job descriptions with respect to administrative reform 

at central level). Finally, most of the stakeholders recognized the EU added value of 

the TFGR intervention, either by its direct or coordinated technical contribution or by 

its contribution to triggering some organisational and functional changes at the level 

of Greek authorities. 

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