Greece seeks to clean up dodgy statistics

(ATHENS) - The Greek government introduced on Thursday legislation to improve the credibility of the country's budget statistics after the European Union opened infringement proceedings over its data.

The bill proposed by the socialist government calls for the creation of an independent statistics service that would replace the agency that works under the finance ministry.

The reform aims to "protect the prestige and credibility" of the country, the finance ministry said in a statement, after government statistics were criticised for underestimating the severity of the country's public deficit.

The new agency would have to provide statistics that are "reliable, timely, transparent and without political oversight," it said.

The European Commission announced on Wednesday opening "infringement proceedings" against Greece on the grounds that it had "failed in its duty to report reliable budgetary statistics."

After it was elected in October, the socialist government revised the country's 2009 public deficit figure to 12.7 percent of gross domestic product. The previous conservative administration had estimated the deficit at six percent.

The government has proposed an austerity budget after Athens came under pressure from the financial markets and the EU to drastically reduce its public deficit and debt.

The European Commission approved the Greek efforts on Wednesday but placed Athens under a permanent system of monitoring, a first for the EU.