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The committee of the International Monetary Fund which will give “first aid” to the Greek statesmen in the process of regulating and managing the local economy arrived in Athens. The committee is comprised of two groups which will handle separately the methods of control over the execution of the budget, the optimization of the activities of the government as well as the matters related to the tax reform and the methods for prevention, investigation and determination of tax frauds.

Regarding the budget for 2010 the committee will provide to the Ministry of finance an exemplary plan for the monthly accountancy for the results of the execution of the targets that have been set. The suggestion of the specialists is related to the creation of a controlling group of representatives of the various ministries who will follow the process of execution of the financial plan. The main goal is to of the ministerial controlling group is to prevent deviations from the targets of the budget and making incidental over expenses as well as the saving of the planned expenses in the cases when this is possible. In other words the controlling group will aim at optimizing to the maximum extent the efficient execution of the budget and at the same time it will be responsible for the reliability of the financial data related to the condition of the Greek economy provided by each ministry.

The representatives of the IMF will help for the creation of three-years budgets for each ministry which will provide funds for the midterm programs for action. Besides this the international financial specialists will help the socialistic government of PASOK to introduce a horizontal equalizing in the structures of the various ministries, which means that it will introduce an unification of the salaries of the employees which are at one and the same level but in different ministries.

The modernization of the system for control and supervision of the results from the activities of the various institutions is also in the program of the specialists from the IMF. It is expected the introduction of a single information system for accounting style of reporting the achieved results as well as the presentation of monthly reports to the parliament. According to the recommendations of the IMF these reports should be published in Greek and in English keeping in mind that the role and the authorities of the parliament as a controlling body have to be observed.

The ministry of finance expects from the specialists to provide more detailed solutions for the improvement of the control over the taxation and the increase of the efficiency of the tax authorities, especially in the areas with higher risk of tax frauds. With the help of the committee from the IMF the Greek statesmen will look at problems such as the collection of the overdue payments, the improvement of the administrative structure of the tax authorities as well as the relation of the tax frauds to the economic crisis.

At the same time, while the Ministry of finance is getting ready to meet the committee of the International Monetary Fund two breaking news shook the international financial markets and the spreads of the Greek government bonds with ten years maturity reached new peaks. One of the news was spread by the financial issue Market News International, which quoted an anonymous representative from the Greek government. According to the publication Greece is in the process of renegotiation of the conditions for economic assistance in case it does not manage to find crediting in the next few months. The anonymous source of Market News International reported that the Greek government aims at finding a new type of mechanism for financial support which excludes the participation of the IMF. The reason for this is that in the case when the International Monetary Fund provides the loan, Greece will be forced to introduce a third wave of strict economic restrictions which will lead to new, even greater social and political agitations in the country.

The second news – bomb came from the Deputy Chairman of the government of PASOK Todoros Pangalos, who stated for the Portuguese newspaper Jornal de Negocios that Greece not only will have to use the financial support provided by the countries members of the European Union and the IMF, but also “the next victim of the crisis will most probably be Portugal.” In the interview Pangalos described as racist the approach of Germany towards the Greek financial problems and clarifies: “Greece is in the worst possible position in this moment and very soon the same could happen both in Portugal and also in Spain.”

The Minister of finance Georgios Papakonstantinou hurried to disprove both of the statements. “Never and in no way there were actions on our part for the renegotiation of the conditions under which financial support will be provided and the mechanism for this support,” explicitly denied Minister Papakonstantinou regarding the publication of Market News International. About the statement of Todoros Pangalos the Minister stated that the financial condition of the country depends on the execution of the Program for stability and development and the Greek government has no intention of turning to the support package yet.