The European Commission has decided to renew its attempt to audit member nations in response to Greece’s financial crisis. The Commission is seeking new auditing powers for the European Union’s statistics office, Eurostat, to verify its members’ accounts.

The veracity of Greece’s accounting for its public finances was thrown into question when its government raised its 2009 deficit forecast last October by more than 4 percentage points to 12.5 percent of gross domestic product. The following month it raised it again to 12.7 percent of gdp, resulting in the European Commission issuing a scathing report last week discussing “severe irregularities” in Greek statistics that left even the 12.7 percent estimate in doubt.

Outgoing EU Economy Commissioner Jaoquin Alumnia said the Commission will propose “a new regulation in order to obtain powers, which we’ve already requested, to give Eurostat the possibility of carrying out audits.”

The Commission made the same request four years ago, but it was rejected by member states that were wary of the EU infringing on national sovereignty.

That sentiment is changing after the surprise adjustments in the projections for Greece’s public finances.

That the EU would attempt to grab more power is exactly what theTrumpet.com predicted would happen as a result of Greece’s financial fiasco.

The crisis in Greece’s finances was in large part a result of the European Central Bank’s (ecb’s) interest rates policy. The ecb kept rates low—lower than would have been otherwise possible for Greece—creating a bubble that violently popped in the Southern European country. The policy was pursued with the knowledge it would cause financial problems in EU countries, but it was deliberately done to create the right conditions for Brussels to take on more financial power.

Greece became a basket case of the EU’s making and is now being used as a test to see if member nations are willing to yield more power to the EU. The test is succeeding, with EU member nations now willingly discussing how to open up their financial books to the EU.

Continue to watch for the EU to use the financial crisis of its own making to grab more power. Especially watch Germany, the EU nation that holds the most sway in the ecb, as it takes the lead in what has amounted to a complete makeover of Europe’s financial regulatory system. For a more in-depth look at where this is leading, read our editor in chief’s analysis on the Greek financial crisis, “Did the Holy Roman Empire Plan the Greek Crisis?”