With the weekend confirmation of a new government in Athens and George Papandreou as prime minster of Greece came a sobering reality check about the state the country's budget. The latest estimates indicate a budget deficit of around 10 percent of Greece's gross domestic product.

This figure is startling enough to begin with, but Greece is now facing criticism from the European Union about how this number has been reported over the past year. Near the beginning of 2009, the previous government announced a deficit of 3.7 percent. This exceeded the three percent ceiling of three percent for eurozone nations under the Stability and Growth Pact. Later, the former government revised its estimate to six percent, and the new government has even said it could climb to 12 percent by the end of this year.

Joaquin Almunia, the European Union's economic and monetary affairs commissioner told reporters at a meeting in Luxembourg that Greece's situation "can only partly be attributed to a worse-than- expected evolution of the economy. I am also seriously concerned about significant, new statistical discrepancies."

The issue also calls Greece's credibility into question, as the numbers released by the government in Athens are inconsistent with estimates from the EU's statistical office, Eurostat.

"The game is over," said Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the group of 16 nations that use the euro currency.

"We need serious statistics."

mz/afp/Reuters
Editor: Chuck Penfold