Lucky old Greeks. They’ve got themselves into enough of an economic muddle to have to take lectures from the EU on getting their statistics in order.

Given the flexibility shown by the EU towards member-states’ economic finagling over the size of their deficits in the run-up to the creation of the Euro, this is ironical, to say the least. Suddenly the EU and its data arm, Eurostat, are to be the guarantors of statistical purity.
 
There’s even talk of Eurostat being given the right to conduct an audit if it doubts the reliability of a Government’s data, an idea last rebuffed by member states in 2005. Given that the EU’s own books haven’t been signed off by the accountants for 15 years running, this should really help to clear the air.