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But, but, but...the feeling has changed. The media focuses on austerity and cuts so misses the central change in attitudes in the rest of the European Union, as trust in the ability of the Greek political class to deliver on their promises sinks ever lower.
November's International Monetary Fund report commented that "technical delays prevented any privatisation sales during the third quarter... structural reforms have not yet delivered the expected results, in part due to a disconnect between legislation and implementation".
As foreign officials probe deeper into the mechanics of the Greek state, the scales seem to be falling from their eyes and they see that there is not a functioning public administration. It may not even be possible to spend the unspent EU structural funds -- even when there is a drastic cut in the requirement for matching funds from Greece. This is now the core of the problem and explains the insistence of ECOFIN (the European Union's economic and finance ministers) on public commitments by all political leaders to the programme.