EUROPEAN FINANCE ministers have moved yet again to intensify pressure on Greece over its wayward public finances, seeking powers for the EU’s statistics division to audit official financial information of the embattled euro-zone member.
Mounting concern about the reliability of statistics from Athens follows a surprise revision of its financial projections late last year, a move that drastically eroded confidence in the capacity of its new socialist government to put its fiscal house in order.
Following Greece’s adoption last week of a new emergency budget and pledges to reform its statistics service, EU finance ministers said after their monthly meeting yesterday that the administration of Greek premier George Papandreou must “decisively address” shortcomings in the service.
While Mr Papandreou’s finance minister, George Papaconstantinou, has asked the EU’s statistical arm, Eurostat, to appoint a board member to its national statistics office, his EU colleagues called on the new European Commission to propose “appropriate measures” to bring the Greek system into line with EU requirements.
Outgoing European economic and monetary affairs commissioner Joaquín Almunia said Eurostat should be empowered to initiate formal audits of statistical data if there are reasonable grounds for suspicion about the reliability of the information concerned.
A 2005 proposal to give “audit capacity” to Eurostat, which was rejected by EU governments, would have empowered the agency to enter the offices of officials producing financial data to establish its reliability.
“We asked for these audit capacities in some cases, not every day, not every time, not under every condition, but under several conditions that will justify this kind of audit capacity,” Mr Almunia told reporters in Brussels.
“We didn’t get it. We intend to repeat the same proposal now with the new evidence about the need for having this capacity.”
This follows a detailed assessment of official Greek economic statistics by the commission, which reported “severe irregularities” over several years.
It is widely held in Brussels that the true state of the country’s public finances will only emerge when its statistical system is reformed.
Spanish economy minister Elena Salgado, who chaired the meeting, dismissed a suggestion that Greece would default on its debt. “I think Greece is going to do all that is necessary so we’re not worried about that.”
