If European Commission’s latest forecasts for the course of the Greek economy in 2006 were to be confirmed by spring 2007, then the EU’s executive -on the occasion of publishing its spring economic forecasts- would recommend that Greece exits an excessive deficit procedure, EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joacqin Almunia said in Brussels.

Speaking to reporters, after a Eurogroup meeting late on Monday, Almunia said the European Commission was awaiting the verification of Greece’s revised GDP figures by Eurostat before approving the new Greek GDP figures.

Government on EU Commission's report on Greek economy: Greece still has some distance to travel before it corrects its fiscal problems, government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos told reporters on Tuesday, while commenting on the European Commission's autumn forecasts for the economy.

"No one doubted that the country's deficit had unfortunately reached 7%. With much struggle by Greek citizens, the government managed to correct the problem. The observations of the European Commission regarding the course of the Greek economy show that we are moving in the right direction but we still have a way to go.

We are near the end of the road but we have before us one more crucial effort that will yield its results within 2007," he said.

Source: Athens News Agency

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