EU executive disagrees with S&P’s Greece downgrade

Thursday, 31 March 2011 01:32 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

BRUSSELS, (AFP) -The European Commission criticised on Wednesday a decision by credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s to downgrade Greece’s sovereign debt rating.

“We don’t share that assessment,” said Amadeu Altafaj Tardio, spokesman for EU economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn, when asked to comment on the downgrade.

“We have our own assessment, and it’s not the one of the agency you mentioned,” Altafaj told a news briefing.

S&P downgraded its credit rating on Greece by two notches to BB- on Tuesday, saying that investors in their bonds could lose out under the terms of a new eurozone bailout system.