Quitting after the revelations about Papaconstantinou's "chosen one"

After leaving Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos hanging, members of the Budget Office of the State have tendered their resignation.

Heading the office is Mrs. Stella Savva Balfoussia, Mr. George Papaconstantinou’s personal choice

Specifically, Mr. Papaconstantinou had suggested that House chairman Filippos Petsalnikos propose his chosen lady for head of the newly established office. This motion was unanimously passed by the Conference of Presidents, since everyone was impressed by Mrs. Balfoussia’s rich résumé.

The person in question, and head of the Office, is an Economics professor, has worked as a researcher at the Center for Planning and Economic Research and has been responsible for the macroeconomic analysis and forecasting team since 2003. She is a member of ELSTAT, and in 2009 she participated in the committee of budgetary control of the Finance Ministry.

She took over the Office staffing, adding the following individuals to her team:
Elias Tzavalis, Professor of Economics at the University of Athens, Vassilis Patsouratis, professor of the Athens Economic University and Valisis Manisiotis, executive of the National Bank of Greece.

This initiative had provoked violent reactions from several PASOK members, with outspoken individuals such as  Giorgos Floridis, Mimis Androulakis and Costas Geitonas taking a stand, complaining that the agency, staffed with a certain group of people, will be nothing but the Ministry of Finance’s “parrot”.

Now, the “swan song” of the scientists in the House’s Budget Office came about as a result of protothema.gr’s report yesterday, which inter alia stated that “the dynamics of debt have become uncontrollable”.