O Tribunal de Contas disse hoje que desconfia das contas públicas de 2003 e admite que o valor do défice público apresentado pode ser falso. No parecer sobre a Conta Geral do Estado do ano passado, o Tribunal de Contas diz que a informação disponibilizada pelo executivo "não apresenta, de forma fidedigna, a situação financeira resultante das operações realizadas no decurso do ano".

A EuroActiv anunciava, por sua vez, a 20.12.04 que: " After revelations that Greece had been systematically underreporting statistics for its public debt and deficit since before it joined the eurozone, the spotlight is now moving towards Italy. The Italian government's reply in September to a Commission questionnaire on its statistical data was deemed unsatisfactory. This prompted the Italians to set up a national working group to dig deeper into the issue.

Daniel Gros, director of the Centre for European Policy Studies, says that although much attention has been focused on Eurostat’s inability to detect the Greek problem earlier, the financial watchdog cannot be expected to play detective with governments. He proposes setting up national Independent Budget Agencies along the lines of the US Congressional Budget Agency."

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