Greece : review of the central administration.

Prepared and written by Caroline Varley and Reza Lahidji.

Includes bibliographical references.

Foreword -- Abbreviations and acronyms -- Glossary -- Key recommendations -- Introduction -- Executive summary -- The debt crisis and the role of the Centre of Government -- General organisation of the central government -- Human resources -- Budget -- Policy development and implementation -- Annex A: Map of Greece's public sector -- Annex B: List of ministries and policy fields considered in the mapping -- Annex C: Aspects of the links between the central government and its supervised public sector entities -- Annex D: Mapping methodology.

Access restricted to authorized users and institutions.

Greece faces an immense, perhaps unique and increasingly urgent challenge. It needs to reform in depth, reconciling emergency measures with long lasting reforms. In the face of growing social and political discontent, the future crucially depends on the government's ability to link short term austerity measures with a long term vision and structural reforms aimed at restoring growth and improving the population's welfare. These reforms depend on a well functioning public administration. Strong measures, starting now, to improve the effectiveness, accountability and integrity of the public administration so that it is "fit for purpose" are a priority. The success of reforms such as privatisation, fiscal consolidation, debt reduction, tax collection and enhanced competitiveness is at stake. This report analyses the issues, sets out the evidence, and makes recommendations for moving forward rapidly to strengthen Greek public governance.