Greece suffers post-Olympic financial hangover

After staging what was generally agreed to be an extremely successful Olympic Games in August, Greece now has to pay the bill - a bill that could see it come into conflict with the European Commission.

Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis announced over the weekend that the Greek budget deficit could spiral to 5.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2004 - smashing the EU's limit of three percent.

"The country is facing an acute financial problem that can no longer be h...