The European Commission asked EU finance ministers today to take a budget disciplinary step against Greece that they blocked for Germany and France, saying it hoped for their backing this time around.
It also proposed giving the European Union statistics office more legal powers to check budget data provided by members of the bloc - a move aimed at restoring confidence in the quality and reliability of such critical statistics.
The Commission said Greece had not done enough to bring its 2005 budget deficit below the EU limit of 3 per cent of gross domestic product, moving a step further along the disciplinary procedure already underway against Athens.
Massive revisions to Greek budget data have shown it broke the EU deficit cap every year since 1997 and the Commission said Athens would not hit its goal of a 2005 deficit of 2.8 per cent.
It asked EU finance ministers to endorse its finding and said it would wait for their decision before slapping Athens with the sort of detailed budget recommendations it tried and failed to issue to Berlin and Paris last year.
"I hope the Council will agree with our proposal because our arguments are very clear and very strong," European Monetary Commissioner Mr Joaquin Almunia told a press conference. Greece insisted its 2005 budget target was ambitious but attainable.