Na Griekenland nu ook Italië onder vuur vanwege gesjoemel met economische statistieken (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - After the crisis caused by the misreporting of Greek economic data, concerns have now also been raised that Italy may have misreported data it sent to the European Commission.

A report drawn up by the European Commission has alleged that Italy has been underestimating its deficit since 1997.

A spokeswoman for economic and monetary affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia on Tuesday expressed "concern" about the figures adding that they were awaiting results from a working group looking into the matter.

However, the Chairman of the EU finance ministers, Gerrit Zalm told reporters that he did not expect any major revisions of Italy's deficit figures.

And the affair was not officially discussed at the meeting of EU Finance Ministers on Tuesday (6 December).

Mr Almunia's spokeswoman said "our knowledge of this at the present time makes me believe that it is not of the same sort discovered in the case of the Greek deficit".

But the Italian case is another embarrassment for the euro zone coming so soon after the Greek crisis.

One case opens, another closes

Ministers also issued a statement today about the Greek statistical crisis, which saw Greece underestimating its budget deficit from 1997.

In a bid to draw a line under the revelations about Greece's data, the statement shared blame evenly across several institutions. Mr Zalm said there was "much self-accusation".

The Ministers first blamed the Greek statistical authorities because they have "for a long time not provided accurate information to Eurostat [the EU's statistical body]".

Eurostat itself also received a share of the blame but the Commission, the European Central Bank and even the Council of Finance Ministers itself should shoulder some of the responsibility, the statement says.

Hoping to close the affair, Greek Finance Minister Giorgious Alogoskoufis told reporters that Athens had "dealt with the issues of the past" and repeated a pledge to bring the Greek deficit below the EU ceiling of three percent of GDP.

Germany hopes for good news

Other member states - notably France and Germany - in breach of the three percent ceiling will have to wait until next week to hear their fate.

Mr Almunia said that he hoped to present a report to the Commission next Tuesday (14 December) in Strasbourg assessing whether Paris and Berlin have made sufficient efforts to reduce their deficit.

If he decides this effort has been made, he will suspend a disciplinary procedure currently open against the euro zone's two biggest economies.

It is widely expected that France will receive a clean bill of health and French Finance Minister Herve Gaymard told Reuters yesterday that he was expecting the procedure to be suspended.

The German situation is less clear, although Mr Almunia said today that he "hoped to be able to give Germany some good news on Tuesday".