ATHENS -- A special European task force for Greece Thursday gave a mixed grade to the country in its public reform efforts, saying progress has been made in some areas but there is still much room for improvement.

The report comes at the end of a four-day mission to Athens by task-force chief Horst Reichenbach to review Greece's progress in areas mostly relating to public administration, and ranging from tax reform to tackling bureaucratic hurdles that have hamstrung the country's access to European support funds.

The task force, which was set up last year by Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, effectively has the twin role of helping modernize Greece's cumbersome state apparatus while also seeking ways to boost the country's competitiveness and jumpstart its moribund economy.

"Greece's future passes through restoring both financial stability and growth potential," Barroso said in a statement releasing the report. "The support provided by the Commission's Task Force is a key instrument to support growth and jobs in Greece."

He added:

"The solidarity shown by many member states, the Commission, and other international institutions is a very encouraging signal for this country. Let's build a future for Greece together."

According to the report, Greece--with the help of the task force personnel--has started to better exploit European funds available to it under various social support programs, an area where the country has lagged for many years.

Specifically, by the end of 2011 Greece had absorbed 35% of the EUR20.4 billion of the funds available for the period 2007 to 2013, exceeding the EU average of 33.5%.

"The absorption of cohesion policy funds has significantly improved during the second half of 2011. Greece has now absorbed a higher proportion of cohesion policy fund allocation than the average recipient member state for this programming period," the report said.

It also highlighted some improvements in tax administration where collections of unpaid arrears exceeded targets, albeit on a very small amount overall. "Since the last quarterly report, operations have gained traction in the budget, taxation and anti money laundering fields," the report states.

"2011 figures show some first promising results, for example in collection of past tax arrears.. EUR946m was collected in tax arrears compared to an initial target of EUR400 million," it says, adding that the tax force will now set more ambitious targets for this year.

Overall, the 36-page report paints a picture of the many blockages, impediments and contradictory processes that have long dogged Greece's bureaucracy and have hampered the effective administration of the state and scared away potential investors.

-By Alkman Granitsas and Riva Froymovich, Dow Jones Newswires, +30 210 373 1774; nektaria.stamouli@dowjones.com