The European Union Court of Human Rights condemns Greece and agrees with the former head of the Statistical Office who used a “scapegoat” for the crisis

“What I am passionate about and what I will pursue to the end is my full legal and moral rehabilitation – which I owe to myself, my family and others. statisticians in Greecein the European Union, but also throughout the world, which must be able to operate exclusively on the basis of Principles of Statistical Ethics to produce reliable statistics.” This was a reaction Andreas Georgiou Then, Wednesday, European Court of Human Rights condemned the Greece To deprive the former head of the Statistics Office (sixes) a fair trial.

The Court of Cassation had refused, without giving reasons, to refer his case to the European Court of Justice. Georgiou, who headed the Census Bureau from 2010 to 2015, led the bottom-up revision of inability Born in religion general Greek after years in which the authorities have greatly distorted the accounts. from there Sovereign debt crisis And the “bailout” of Greece before Troika. Since then, how We said above Fq Millennium October 39, 2020, Defined by the majority and the opposition as Scapegoat And I started a long one judicial persecution At his expense, despite numerous appeals from scientific societies and Nobel laureates concerned about the independence of those who produce official statistics for EU countries.

The former head of Elstat, who has since been living in the US after receiving serious threats, was Convicted on appeal in 2017 for breach of official duty by publishing information on the 2009 fiscal deficit without first reporting it to the Elstat Board of Directors and without obtaining its consent to publish it. Giorgio has made it clear that his actions comply with the principle of professional independence that he stated European Statistical Codeaccording to which the head of the statistical agency shall havesole responsibility“From the decision to publish statistics. Based on this argument, he appealed to the Supreme Court to request a preliminary ruling from the European Court of Justice. But the request was rejected. According to the European Court of Human Rights, no specific reasons were given and the right of the former president of “Ellstat” to a fair trial was violated Strasbourg officials argue that the only way now to rectify it is with the Court of Cassation Re-open the case Giorgio should ask.

The European rule on the exclusive liability of the first statistical institutes” is fundamental and crucial importance For the credibility of the official statistics of European Union countries and their protection from any kind of political and governmental interference – precisely the pathology that gave rise to the “Greek statistics” phenomenon. And for this reason, the decisions of the court, while recognizing that my convictions were unjust, are especially the decisions of the court rewardingGiorgio wrote in a note, adding that although his persecution had “serious personal repercussions,” he did not want to seek financial compensation, choosing instead to focus on defending the independence of official statistics.