The European Commission currently abstains from any conclusions regarding Bulgaria's possible faulty statistics methodology or manipulation of macroeconomic data, the Bulgarian National Radio reports.

BNR is citing Amadeu Altafaj, spokesman for the EU Economy Commissioner Olli Rehn, who explained for the media outlet Wednesday the reasons behind the Eurostat forthcoming “investigative mission”

Alfataj stated two main reasons that caused alarm within the EC – the first is that the Commission was just recently informed about significant revisions in Bulgaria's budget perspective, which, he said, is a violation of the country's obligations under EU treaties.

The second reason is the need to find an answer to the question why Bulgaria had revised its budget plans for 2010 from a balanced budget to a budget deficit of 3.7% when the macroeconomic scenario did not change and even improved, Alfataj said, adding unless the EC finds the answer, it cannot assess Bulgaria's budget perspectives.

The spokesperson, however, pointed out the mission will not deal with the recently updated budget for 2010, but with statistical data and macroeconomic information for 2009 in order to establish what data has been used and how the Bulgarian statistics services generate it.

Alfataj said the exact date of the mission has not yet been determined.

On Tuesday, Rehn stated the European Commission has some “worries” about the statistical data submitted by Bulgaria regarding its economy and plans to send “soon” an investigative mission to the country.

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