BRUSSELS, Dec. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- Finance ministers from the 25-nation European Union (EU) on Tuesday said that there was "much self-accusation" on the Greek statistics crisis.

    Greece in September admitted that it had underestimated its deficit figures from at least 2000 onwards, in a bid to join the euro area. The revised figures show that Greek government's deficit has long overshoot the three percent of its GDP (gross domestic products), a limit imposed by the EU Stability and Growth Treaty.

    In a bid to draw a line under the revelations about Greece's data, the EU ministers issued a statement and shared blame evenly across several institutions.

    The ministers first blamed the Greek statistical authorities because they have "for a long time not provided accurate information to Eurostat".

    Eurostat, the EU's statistics body, itself also received a share of the blame but the European Commission, the European Central Bank and even the Council of Finance Ministers itself should also shoulder some of the responsibility, the statement says.

    Hoping to close the affair, Greek Finance Minister Giorgious Alogoskoufis told reporters that Athens had "dealt with the issues of the past" and repeated a pledge to bring the Greek deficit below the EU ceiling of three percent. Enditem