Greek troika report delayed by US elections The European Commission's representative on the troika, Matthias Mors, denied that the report could be delayed, and an official at Greece's finance ministry said he had been assured that there would be no slippage. A US official said the United States had made clear to European officials that it wanted to avoid any "downside" economic surprises because of the fragile US recovery, but denied that it had anything to do with the US election. Several sources in Germany described those conversations with their US counterparts and said the message had been that the Americans didn't want surprises before the election. Most polls show President Barack Obama leading his Republican rival Mitt Romney, but voters remain sensitive to any event that could damage US economic growth and hurt jobs. "It's likely the troika report will be pushed back beyond the US election date," said a Berlin official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Asked if that was a special request from Washington, he replied: "They don't want any surprises." The European Commission's spokesman on finance said on Friday the troika would take a week-long break from its work in Athens, the second time it has interrupted its mission since it began in late July, adding to expectations of a delay. "The inspectors are expected to return to Athens in about a week," spokesman Simon O'Connor told reporters. "As for a conclusion of the mission, I don't have any dates to share with you," he said, adding that it should be some time during October. We can't say exactly when. Even if the mission does conclude its work on the ground in October, it will still take some time to write up its findings, the focus of which will be whether Greece will ever be able to get its debt down to a sustainable level. That analysis will either show that Athens can reduce its debts below 120pc of gross domestic product by 2020, as required by the IMF, or that the target will be missed. If Greece is off-target by a wide margin, as many economists predict, financial markets will react negatively, concerned that another round of debt restructuring will be required to get government finances back on a stable footing. A negative troika report could also revive pressure to force Greece out of the single currency area with potentially devastating knock-on consequences for other European countries and the global economy. European leaders have the same interests as the US president in not destabilizing markets - their own economies have also been badly affected by the fallout from Greece, where the sovereign debt crisis began in January 2010. But one source said EU leaders' motives went beyond macroeconomic stability. They also had political reasons to avoid rocking the boat before the US election. "As far as European leaders are concerned, they don't want Romney, so they're probably willing to do anything to help Obama's chances," said the source, an EU official involved in finding solutions to the debt crisis. The problem for Obama is that if Europe's leaders are seen, implicitly or otherwise, to be working to bolster his reelection chances, it could provide ammunition for the Romney campaign. European leaders have repeatedly been accused of acting too slowly and in a confused way to resolve the crisis, with a knock-on negative impact on the United States. If they are now seen to be allying with Obama, it could dent his popularity.