The third quarterly report of the Task Force for Greece on technical assistance was published in December 2012. The Task Force covers 40 technical assistance projects in ten policy domains, including Structural and Cohesion Funds, budget and taxation, administrative reform and health policy. The report notes progress in accelerating Cohesion Policy projects despite liquidity constraints and a politically complex period: 'Payment claims of approximately €1.234 million (all cohesion policy Funds included) were declared to the Commission during the first 11 months of 2012 against an MoU target of €1.231 million for the first half of 2012 and €3.730m million for the whole year (achievement of 33% of the latter). In particular, for ERDF and Cohesion Fund, the Greeks have declared payment claims for about €889 million against the annual target of €2.850 million (31.1%); as regards the ESF, the Greeks have declared payment claims for about €345 million against the annual target of €880 million(39.2%). Nevertheless for a few operational programmes (due to their specific low absorption rate), the risk exists of Greece losing significant EU funds at the end of 2012 because of the N+2/3 rule'.
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