[Ocqljudq]

hmmm... I'm sending a link to this thread to a certain French leader. Not a bad idea.

[Qnpqbpac]

You really ought to cite your source. (Edit: Another site said prostitution wasn't legal.) Not sure about other activities; don't know how current this source is:
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/legal_lib...2_1996-25.html

[NumDusthouh]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/...ess/grecon.php

[Corryikilelet]

Originally posted by Spiffor
Greeks are very creative when it comes to statistics, You kidding? They reinvented the field singlehandedly
Having 1 million Albanians in a 10 million country and claiming to still be 99% Greek...

[Kiliunjubl]

Originally posted by Japher
depends how you define Greek Well they count Macedonians as being Greek so it must be a liberal standard.

[space-on-s]

25% of their GDP comes from underground activities?!?!?!

[dmitrynts]

Paraguay

[L0KoxewQ]

Is prostitution illegal there?

[pharmacologist30]

Be glad, so you still can run for prez

[flanna.kersting]

on a slightly more serious note....

"Irregularities" (the word falsification never officially used) in deficit reporting were also revealed for other Eurozone members, most notably Italy and Portugal, with significant revisions imposed. Also, there were arguments about massive "creative accounting" employed by many states in order to meet the deficit criterion for entry into the Eurozone. Even the practice of one-off measures by so many states has been criticised, since in several cases their deficits rose back over 3% soon after the reference year, while big economies like Germany and France seem to defy the rules ever since. Last but not least, changes in accounting method often seriously affected the deficit numbers (Spain and Portugal had, like Greece, marginally exceeded 3% in their reference year for entry, when their deficit was revised according to ESA95).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_F...al_Audit,_2004

[andrekuper]

Financial Times showing the world how to do catchy titles from boring financial news

"Oldest profession boosts Greek output"
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/d2b246a2-4f1...0779e2340.html

and response from Greek Finances Minister

http://search.ft.com/ftArticle?query...1004000995&x=0
To set the record straight, I would like to bring to your attention that of the 25 per cent upward revision of the Greek gross domestic product only 0.7 per cent is expected to be related to activities such as the ones you imply. This accounting practice has been followed by all European Union countries for years. As a matter of fact, the boost in Greek output mentioned in your headline will primarily be the result of the improvement of statistical methods to measure the fast-growing services sector - as is clearly articulated in your story.

[Caluabdum]

Originally posted by Spiffor
Greeks are very creative when it comes to statistics, so that they can fit in the Euro-criteria. We just call ours 'The City'