Η ελληνική οικονομική πολιτική καθορίζεται κατά τρόπο απόλυτο από το μνημόνιο “συνεργασίας” που έχει υπογράψει η ελληνική κυβέρνηση με το ΔΝΤ και την Επιτροπή. Ακόμα και οι υποστηρικτές του Μνημονίου αναγνωρίζουν ότι, στα πλαίσια αυτού ή παράλληλα μ’αυτό, δεν έχει εκφραστεί κανένα σχέδιο οικονομικής ανάπτυξης. Το γεγονός αυτό επιδεινώνει τα δημοσιονομικά προβλήματα, προκαλεί ασφυξία και τη χειρότερη δυνατή ψυχολογία στην εγχώρια αγορά. Με δεδομένο ότι το ΕΣΠΑ 2007-13 είναι το βασικό εργαλείο αναπτυξιακής παρέμβασης, ύψους για την Ελλάδα περίπου 24 δισ., ερωτάται η Επιτροπή:

Δεν μπορεί η Επιτροπή να επικαιροποιήσει, σε συνεργασία με την Ελλάδα, το ΕΣΠΑ 07-13, ούτως ώστε να ανταποκριθεί στις νέες συνθήκες που επιβάλλει η οικονομική κρίση; Είναι διατεθειμένη η Επιτροπή να αναθεωρήσει τουλάχιστον τους κανονισμούς, ούτως ώστε να υπάρξει μικρότερη συμμετοχή του κράτους μέλους στα συγχρηματοδοτούμενα προγράμματα; Μελετά την ανάπτυξη κοινών πολιτικών, όπως, π.χ., ο τουρισμός και η ενίσχυση μικρών επιχειρήσεων, ή κοινωνικά μέτρα, προκειμένου να επωφεληθούν τα κράτη μέλη και οι πολίτες της Νότιας Ευρώπης, που πλήττονται βαρύτερα από την κρίση;

The Commission and the Greek authorities had agreed that no revision of the Greek operational programmes would be initiated in 2010, as Structural Funds absorption in Greece was not advanced enough to allow appropriate conclusions to be made about new directions that could be served by a revision. The Greek authorities were involved in a significant effort to meet the annual absorption targets and other requirements for 2010 set by the Memorandum of Understanding. The time-consuming process of revision would divert efforts away from fulfilling these requirements. The absorption rate had considerably increased by the end 2010. Furthermore, the programmes are providing scope for the investments necessary to respond to the crisis.

The Structural Funds regulations were first modified in the context of the European Economic Recovery Package at the beginning of 2009⁽¹⁾ . Subsequently, in order to increase the impact of EU funding on the national economies and labour markets, the regulations were amended again in 2010⁽²⁾ following thorough discussions and approval with the European Parliament and the Council.

Acceptable modifications and flexibilities with regard to national co-financing requirements have been discussed and addressed in the above package of modifications. The Commission considers, moreover, that modification of the regulations, which are applicable to all Member States, is not the appropriate method to respond to particular requirements of one specific Member State.

In its recent Communication 'Regional Policy contributing to smart growth in Europe 2020'⁽³⁾ the Commission encourages national and regional governments to move towards 'smart specialisation strategies' and asks them to redirect European Regional Development Fund support to reinforce investments in education, research and innovation in line with such strategies. It also says that it will support requests for redirecting funds and reprogramming programmes to this end.

Smart specialisation strategies are comprehensive sets of strategic actions supporting regional specialisation and growth through innovation. They aim at supporting and exploiting a region's assets and its competitive advantage and stimulate cooperation across national and regional borders to support critical mass and knowledge flows.

The Commission believes that these strategies should be accompanied by measures to improve the framework conditions for research and innovation through aligning European Regional Development Fund support with national reform programme priorities and making full use of the flexibility in regional policy programmes to redirect funding to this end.

To assist the regions in this process the Commission will launch a ‘Smart Specialisation Platform’ in 2011, to spread information and provide feed-back to the regions, with the establishment of a learning platform to increase the capacities and skills in this field and to support the exchange of experiences.