02/08/2017 (Agence Europe) – Following the decision of the Athens appeal court on Tuesday 1 August handing Andreas Georgiou, the former chairman of the country’s statistics agency (Elstat), a two-year suspended prison sentence in connection with the transmission of Greece's 2009 budget data to Eurostat (see EUROPE 11841), Annika Breidhardt, a spokesperson for the European Commission, said on Wednesday 2 August that this decision would be studied within the framework of Eurogroup and the possible consequences on the bailout programme. She nevertheless declined to say whether the decision would be discussed at the next Eurogroup, which is meeting informally in Tallinn, Estonia, on 15 September. Breidhardt also said that the Commission considered Elstat's independence important. (LT)