EU defends Greek data as statistician faces court

The EU insisted Wednesday that Greek economic data were reliable after Greece's top court reopened a case against the ex-head of the state statistics agency for exaggerating deficit figures.

Marianne Thyssen, the European Commissioner for social affairs, urged the Greek government to "challenge the false impression" that the figures were fiddled under Andreas Georgiou.

"It is absolutely clear that data on Greek government debt during 2010-2015 have been fully reliable and accurately reported to Eurostat," said Thyssen, the commissioner in charge of the EU's statistics agency.

"The Commission now calls upon the Greek authorities to actively and publicly challenge the false impression that data were manipulated during (that period)," she told a news conference in Brussels.

Greek government spokeswoman Olga Gerovassili said Athens was "surprised" by the Commission's comments, especially as Brussels makes a point of not commenting on legal proceedings.

As such, the admonition to lay off Georgiou appears "contradictory," she said.

- Moral obligation -

"If the Commission has a privileged scientific position to judge the case...then it is morally bound to give evidence to Greek justice," Gerovassili added.

Former IMF executive Georgiou stepped down last year amid claims that the data during his 2010-2015 mandate exaggerated Greek overspending and contributed to the punishing austerity measures that Athens has been forced to accept.

Georgiou and two colleagues are now to face trial on criminal charges of hurting the national interest, according to a ruling earlier this month by the Greek supreme court that overturned a dismissal by a lower court.

No trial date has been set. Georgiou faces a 20-year maximum sentence if convicted but is more likely to receive a suspended small term.

Particularly galling for Brussels have been recent statements by key ministers raising doubts about the agency's work under Georgiou's mandate.

A day after the Supreme Court reopened the case, the Greek minister of state -- and a close advisor to leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras -- said the affair "opened a wound that must be investigated in depth."

Nikos Pappas, a key member of Tsipras's radical Syriza party, said answers were sought on "how and if deficits were inflated in order to expedite pre-planned political decisions for bringing Greece into a (bailout agreement)."

The issue is particularly sensitive given the history of unreliable statistics in Greece.

The 2009 revelation that Greece's public deficit was actually more than double the previous official estimate of six percent precipitated the country's descent into economic crisis that would eventually require three bailouts.

During Georgiou's 2010-15 mandate, the statistics agency drastically overhauled its data-gathering criteria, bringing them in line with EU norms, but drawing fury in Athens.

Georgiou in 2010 stepped into office with the firm backing of Greece's EU-IMF creditors and a mission to clean up the shop.

Under his tutelage, Greece's public deficit was revised from 13.6 percent to 15.4 percent of output, while the debt went from 115.1 percent to 126.8 percent.

When he stepped down in 2015, Georgiou said he had carried out his duties at "huge personal and professional cost."

In a Sunday interview, Georgiou said he felt like a scapegoat for the errors of Greek politicians.

He claimed that a conviction could have an impact on the future reporting of accurate data in Greece and abroad.

"Statisticians who ought to work under scientific independence, impartiality and objectivity will see what happens to someone who followed this path," he told To Vima weekly.