Greece has missed a deadline from the European Commission to give a full account of financial operations allegedly used by Athens to hide the true extent of its budget deficit, officials said today.
Greek authorities had to hand over all the information on such schemes by Friday but have not yet done so, telling European Commission officials that the delay was due to a four-day strike at the country's finance ministry.
The European Commission's data office Eurostat has received some information, but not all the information needed from Greek authorities, a spokesman for the Commission, the EU's executive arm, said.
Brussels is hoping to receive the documents very soon as 'this would be to the advantage of all parties concerned,' the spokesman said.
Eurostat's inquiry focuses on allegations in the New York Times and Financial Times that major Wall Street banks helped Greece hide the holes in its budget through tricky operations that allowed it to join the euro zone.
Greece's finance minister has said the schemes were legal at the time.
