Remember the Greek Statistics scandal where deficit was trimmed down? Allegedly there is a new scandal with Statistics when the deficit went … up, should we believe Zoi Georganta, board member of the Greek Statistics Authority (ELSTAT). Georganta and some other board members were sacked on Thursday by Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos because they could not cooperate with the president of the ELSTAT.
Zoi Georganta, professor for Econometrics at the University of Macedonia, spoke to several Greek media on Friday and claimed that Greece’s budget deficit underwent a upward revision in 2009 to 15.4% instead of 12.6% just to force Greece to take the harsh austerity measures.
The upward revision of Greece’s budget deficit in 2009 to 15.4 percent of gross domestic product exposed the scale of the country’s fiscal derailment and sped up the debt crisis which is still rocking the euro zone.
“The 2009 deficit was artificially inflated to show that the country had the biggest fiscal shortfall in all of Europe, even higher than Ireland’s which was 14 percent,” ELSTAT board member Zoe Georganta was quoted as saying by the Eleftherotypia newspaper.
Georganta said the inclusion of a number of utilities under the general government inflated the deficit. She said this had not been handled according to Eurostat guidelines and that the chairman rejected the board’s objections.
“We have a new kind of occupation in Europe by the Germans,” Georganta told Real FM radio, adding that German officials at Eurostat put pressure on the government to inflate the 2009 deficit to justify harsh austerity measures. (Reuters)
Prompt was the answer of George Papaconstantinou, Greek FinMin until summer 2011, who said in a written statement:
“Unfortunately for all, Greece’s budget deficit for 2009 was 15.4% of the GDP, as The EUROSTAT and the ELSTAT had officially announced. Let’s understand the harsh situation of the country instead of searching cheap and easy justification of the conspiracy theory kind. As fas as it concerns Gerorganta’s statements, her phrase “We are under German occupation” says all.”
I don’t consider this explanation as full – because Papaconstantinou most probably wore his anti-conspiracy theories Tin Foil Hat when he was writting it.
I’m sure the claims and blames will have a Part Two.
PS What was the name of the other professor who was sacked by the budget commission of the Greek Parliament?
Apologies for annoying typos (due to a bad laptop keyboard). I repeat the same comment correct this time. Please erase the previous one.
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Andreas Georgiou, the “bad boss” of Ms. Georganta, worked as senior staff for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 1989 to July 2010.
“He has been head of missions, responsible for the preparation, negotiation, and monitoring of economic programs with IMF member
countries…” (quoting one of his numerous CVs).
THEREFORE, Mr. Georgiou was a COLLABORATOR of very serious ECONOMIC CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY. He helped the IMF’s financial “weapons of mass destruction” to become more lethally effective, in destroying completely the Argentinian economy (among others).
If we lived in a… sane world, he sould be charged and… extradited to Argentina(!!!) to face charges of EXTREMELY SERIOUS and LETHAL DAMAGE against the well-being of the Argentinian people.
Furthermore, Ms. Georganta was NOT the only serious Greek scientist slandered and attacked by Georgiou, by the Papandreou/IMF gang et.al.
SIX OTHER Greek SCIENTISTS HAVE BEEN FIRED and slandered. One of them, Mr. Logothetis, was sued by “bad boss” Georgiou, a year ago, for attempting to… collect incriminating evidence from Georgiou’s computer, allegedly “personal evidence”. This evidence was, however, far from “personal”: About 10 people ALSO had access to it.
Poh, poh… “Collaborator”, “economic crimes against humanity”, “weapons of mass destruction”, “lethally effective”, “lethal damage”… and all in capitals: The plague of hyperbole http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite3_1_13/09/2011_406116Might be nice to read.
Well, maybe the complete destruction of the Argentinian economy is hyperbole; if I write it in capitals, that is.
Come on, Antonis. Don’t make the mistake of judging facts or truths by STYLE alone.
OF COURSE I use a hyperbolic style. There ain’t enough means to express certain things. But that’s irrelevant. It’s an issue of self-expression; and I don’t need Kathimerini to teach me (or anynone) self-restraint. Self-restraint and manners are the last thing we need, in the present worse-than-hyperbolic situation.