Greece warned on false euro data

Greece has received a formal warning from the European Commission for publishing false data about its public finances, 1 December 2004. The Greek government informed the Commission in September 2004 that it had significantly revised the country's deficits from 2000 to 2003 compared with the figures provided in March 2004. In view of this, the Commission decided to carry out a detailed analysis of Greece's deficit and debt since 1997. A final Eurostat report for 1997-2003 shows that the government deficit has been revised upwards by 2.1% of GDP on average over that period, leading to the conclusion that the government deficit ratio has always exceeded 3% of GDP in the period.

EUobserver.com, 1.12.04: Brussels takes action against Greece for 'systemic problems' http://euobserver.com/?sid=9&aid=17886

Eurostat: Report by Eurostat on the revision of the Greek government deficit and debt figures, November 2004 http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-eurostat-news/-/GREECE

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