The European Commission has sought to use new powers under the Lisbon Treaty to impose a 'quasi-permanent' monitoring system on the Greek public finances.
Under the EC's plan, outlined today by Economics Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, the Greek government will have to report on the implementation of its budget measures every three months.
If the other EU states and the Commission are not satisfied with the performance they can insist on additional new measures being taken.
Commissioner Almunia said 'every time measures are not implemented or we observe slippages we will call on the Greek Authorities to adopt more measures'.
The unprecedented move requires the Greek government to furnish a detailed list of measures and a timescale for their implementation to Brussels and the other euro zone states.
The euro zone states will then closely watch to see if the Greeks implement all the measures on time, forcing them into corrective action if they fail to meet the targets.
Separately, the Commission is seeking a change in EU law to give the European statistical agency Eurostat the right to audit national statistical agencies.
Greece has been widely criticised for the poor quality of its national economic statistics.
Inaccurate economic statistics enabled Greece to join the single currency nine years ago, when in fact it did not meet the entry criteria.
Data on the budget deficit was massively revised after the Greek election last September, with projections for the deficit being changed from 4% to 12%.
Commissioner Almunia gave political backing to the Greek government’s plans to reduce the size of its deficit, the biggest in the EU.
He described the targets as 'ambitious but achievable', and said that Greece would receive the political support of the other euro zone states as it undertook this work.
