Brussels, 11/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 11 July, the European Commission announced that it has decided to open a formal investigation into claims of statistical misreporting in the Valencia region of Spain. European Commission spokeswoman Emer Traynor said that this did not cast doubt on the accuracy of Spanish national statistics, but that the investigation was only looking at one region and one type of expenditure.
In May 2012, the Spanish national statistical authorities informed Eurostat that its general government deficit for 2011 would have to be revised upwards by 0.4% of GDP, compared to the figure it had reported a few weeks earlier. This was mainly due to the discovery of unrecorded expenditures in the Autonomous Communities of Valencia and Madrid. Eurostat immediately carried out technical visits to Spain to determine the nature of the problem. During these visits, Eurostat found that the case of Madrid could be considered as an exceptional adjustment. However, the case of Valencia gave reason for concern. It appeared that the Intervencion General de la Generalidad Valenciana (IGGV) had systematically sent incorrect information to the national statistical authorities over many years. As well as failing to report considerable health expenditure, the IGGV had not respected the accrual principle, required under national and EU law.
Eurostat made a number of recommendations that seem to have been applied.
In September 2013, Eurostat conducted a verification visit to Spain to confirm its findings related to the incorrect reporting in Valencia. On the basis of these visits, and further analysis of the situation, Eurostat recommended that the Commission open an investigation into the misrepresentation of excess deficit proceedings data in Spain.
Traynor said: “Our understanding is that this is a long-standing problem” and the Commission will be looking into it.
Traynor added that this was the first time that the European Commission had made use of its new “six-pack” powers to investigate countries' debt and deficit statistics. (EL)