Two deputies quit deficit probe
Two MPs on Wednesday quit the parliamentary committee that is examining Greece?s 2009 public deficit, arguing that PASOK and New Democracy are using the inquiry to attack each other and cover up their responsibilities.
The deputies that left are Panayiotos Kouroublis, an independent, and Dimitris Papadimoulis of the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA).
Former finance minister Giorgos Alogoskoufis wrote to the panel to counter suggestions that the New Democracy government in power between 2004 and October 2009 hid the true size of the deficit.
Alogoskoufis, who was replaced as finance minister in January 2009, also defended the conservative government?s record, saying it had made a serious effort to reduce the large deficit and debt it inherited from the previous administration but this became difficult after 2007 due to the global financial crisis and the domestic political dynamics.
