Greeks should stop complaining and get ready for the worst. That’s more or less the message sent by Horst Reichenbach, the chief of EU Task Force in Athens. Head of a team of 30 troop-members with the target to reform the debt-ridden state. In an interview to German daily DIE WELT, Reichenbach said that “Greece has not reached the bottom yet”. Therefore, investors will only turn to Greece once they believe that assets are cheap and will not decline further.
To the question whether Greece is the main problem for the euro crisis, Reichenbach answers:
“Greece is at least one problem that is solvable. Perhaps a decisive, clear solution from the beginning would have been less virulent for the other countries. If something similar would happen in Italy, the quantity and quality would be, of course, a much bigger problem. This would include the crucial question of European integration.”
Reichenbach shows to understand the Greeks’ protests:
“The exposure of the population is much larger [than in other countries]. The Greek per-capita-income has already been loaded by the previous structural reforms three times more than the Spanish and twice more than the Irish and Portuguese.”
Reichenbach exects no economic growth in Greece for 2012, therefore the EU Task Force’s main job will be to improve the business environment. He added that he will stay in Greece for three years, in order to aid the country with taxation issues and the modernization of bureaucracy.
Beginning of the month Reichenbach had said that Greece has 60 billion EUR in unpaid taxes.
PS After solving the bureaucracy problems, Reichenbach could candidate for the elections. Thankful Greeks will certainly give him their votes. [I am not kidding]
The only Russian word he learned is troika and the only Greek word he will learn is molotow.
So right! After that feat he would be pronounced the second German Saint. After Rehhagel in 2004 😀