Never far from the headlines the Greek debt crisis rumbles on.
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One EU source said the European Commission, whose Eurostat EU statistics office has verified data provided by Greece’s Elstat agency, would make a public statement on the issue later on Wednesday.
The issue is politically sensitive across Europe because Greece allegedly manipulated its fiscal numbers to qualify for euro entry in 2001 and became dependent in 2010 on worldwide emergency loans, which have flowed for the past six years in return for widespread budget cuts.
A European Commission spokesperson told EurActiv.com that the executive is closely monitoring a criminal case against Greece’s former head of statistical services.
Andreas Georgiou, a veteran of the International Monetary Fund, stepped down a year ago under a cloud after being charged in 2013 with inflating figures on the Greek budget deficit in 2009 in a way that made bailout conditions imposed on Athens by euro zone creditors more onerous than they might have been.
“For the Commission and Eurostat it is absolutely clear that data on Greek Government debt during 2010-2015 have been fully reliable and accurately reported to Eurostat – unlike the situation before this period”, she said. He faces criminal charges of “undermining the national interest” and a jail term of up to a decade.
Because the accusations undermine the credibility of fiscal data underpinning the EU’s stability support programme for Greece, she warned that these actions by the Greek government were important “in the context of ensuring the successful continuation” of the €86bn financial aid deal.
“Let there be no doubt about the correctness and the credibility of this statistical material”, she said. “We have to call on the Greek authorities because they have to actively and publicly to support that”.
“It is very important for the credibility of the European Union institutions…we count on the Greek government to do what they have to do”, she added.
Thyssen said a letter was sent to the Greek government, outlining their concerns.
The Greek government quickly replied that it was “surprised” at the call from the European Commission for it to take a stance on a judicial matter and insisted it respected the independence of the Elstat statistics office.
“The minister of finance and government remain committed to keeping politics out of the public sector and respecting the operation of independent agencies”, government spokeswoman Olga Gerovasili said.
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Thyssen said on Wednesday that the commission, the EU’s executive arm, has sent a letter to the Greek government stressing the importance of preserving the quality of Greek budget statistics. A government spokesman said the minister had already replied.
