Logan brought up in class on Friday that Greece had fudged its government budget numbers in order to get into the European Union. More than once!
In the course of getting its affairs in order over the last 2 years, Greece brought back the head of the IMF Statistics division to improve the reliability of its data. He is a Greek national who has worked internationally for his career, and is unattached to the cliques that run Greek politics.
He now stands accused of having falsified Greek economic data to make it more favorable to Germany and less favorable to Greece.
He is facing life in prison.
No member of Greece’s government or top political parties has stood up to defend him.
All this despite a public letter from the head of Eurostat that defended Georgiou in no uncertain terms. Eurostat, Walter Radermacher wrote Dec. 1, "refutes all allegations that the deficit of 2009 was overestimated." The compilation of 2009 and 2010 data has been published "without any reservation ... in contrast with previous periods." Radermacher credited Georgiou and his staff with implementing "new and strengthened procedures" and "a high level of professionalism."
Read more here: “Blaming the Messenger”
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