The European Union’s statistics arm said Greece’s government budget figures were unreliable and seem to have been falsified to play down the budget crisis that has shaken the EU.
Eurostat said the Greek statistical office NSSG had complained of political interference in the financial figures to be sent to the EU executive last October.
The NSSG is currently controlled by the Greek finance ministry.
“The current set-up does not guarantee the independence, integrity and accountability of the national statistical authorities,” the Eurostat report said. It denounced “poor co-operation and lack of clear responsibilities between several Greek institutions and services . . . diffuse personal responsibilities, ambiguous empowerment of officials, absence of written instruction and documentation, which leave the quality of fiscal statistics subject to political pressures and electoral cycles”.
The report listed categories in which, it said, Greece had deliberately misreported data last year, including revenues from abolished extra-budgetary accounts, swaps write-offs, adjustment for interest payments, European Union financial grants and hospital liabilities.
Hundreds of millions of euros were involved in each case.
The Papandreou government has promised to make the statistics service independent to eliminate any political pressure on its work.
EU President Herman Van Rompuy told reporters after meeting Greek officials in Athens on Tuesday that he was confident that the government would make the reforms needed and to start reducing debt soon with tough action.
He said this was “a matter of common interest” to the entire EU.