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Greek Government 'Surprised' by EC Intervention on Supreme Court's ELSTAT Probe

STATISTICS

The European Commission wants the Greek government to take an official stand on press reports that the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) had rigged data to aid Greece’s foreign creditors. EU Social Affairs Commissioner Marianne Thyssen, who overseas Eurostat, said that the Greek statistics agency had verified the Greek figures during Andreas Georgiou’s term at the helm of ELSTAT. She noted that these were in contrast to the figures cooked up for Brussels before he took office when Greece concealed the depth of its public deficit.

Thyssen made such claims despite the fact that the Greek Supreme Court this month reopened an investigation on the matter in order to ascertain whether Georgiou, a former economist with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), had manipulated data to aid his former boss.

EC Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, EU Economics Commission Pierre Moscovici and  Thyssen jointly signed a letter addressed to Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos on Tuesday calling for the government to set the record straight and avoid misinterpretation regarding speculation that Georgiou had exaggerated Greece’s debt problems to help Greece’s creditors push through crushing reforms for Greece. Thyssen warns the consequences of such suggestions that have been made by politicians, including from the current Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) government.

Thyssen said that it is now up to the government to “actively and publicly challenge the false impression that data were manipulated during the 2010-2015 period and to protect Elstat and its staff from such unfounded claims.”

She said that such reports pose risks to the current bailout program in effect.

Greek government’s reaction

The Greek government replied that it was “surprised” by the EC’s intervention on a judicial matter being tried in national courts. “In its letter, the Commission states its standard principle to not comment on cases pending in the justice system, a principle which is shared and followed by the Greek government,” said Greek Government Spokeswoman Olga Gerovasili in a statement. “However, there is a contradiction between this principle and the urging for the Greek government to take a stance on whether statistical data in 2010 were valid or not.”

Tsakalotos has already replied to the letter that the three EU Commissioners addressed to him.

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