Greece given legal warning for gross under-reporting of deficit

The European Commission has warned the Greek Government it could face legal action for under-reporting its national deficit and debt figures but was told it would not be ejected from the eurozone. Figures released by Eurostat, the European Commission's statistical arm, on 23 September 2004 reveal that Greece broke the single currency's deficit ceiling every year in the 2000-2003 period. The Commission will now check the accuracy of figures provided by Greece before 2000, the year the country qualified to join the single currency.

Eurostat: News Release No.117, 2004: Euro-zone government deficit at 2.7% of GDP and public debt at 70.7% of GDP http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-press-releases/-/2-23092004-AP

European Commission: Press Release: IP/04/1135 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/04/1135&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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