A letter from EU officials has confirmed Greece's exit from the enhanced surveillance status in August 21, after 12 years of strict post-bailout monitoring.
EU financial system commissioner Paolo Gentiloni stated Greece had "delivered on the majority of the coverage commitments" made to the eurogroup of 19 eurozone member states and "achieved efficient reform implementation" regardless of the affect of Covid-19 and the warfare in Ukraine.
In response, Greece's Finance Minister Christos Staikouras posted on Twitter on 10 August that "August 20 marks the achievement of a major national goal for Greece, the ending of EU's enhanced surveillance framework, thanks to the sacrifices of the Greek people, the prudent economic and reform-oriented policy consistently implemented by the government."
Greek economic developments and policy have been monitored under the framework since 2018, after Athens exited three international bailouts, totalling more than €260bn, from the EU and the International Monetary Fund between 2010 and 2015.
In an official statement by the Greek Ministry of Finance, Staikouras said that the exit confirmation letter, signed by the executive vice-president of the European Commission Vladis Dobrovskis and the Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, affirmed that Greece has fulfilled the main volume of policy commitments to the Eurogroup and efficiently implemented reforms, despite the adverse conditions created by the health and, more recently, the geopolitical crisis, and, thus, significantly strengthened the resilience of its economy.
"This development, combined with an early repayment of IMF loans and the full withdrawal of capital controls, ends a difficult chapter for our country, after 12 years. Greece returns to European normalcy and is no longer an exception in the Eurozone," he said.
Staikouras said the removal of the enhanced status would strengthen the position of Greece in the international markets and provide an additional boost to its growth potential and investment attraction.
It will also offer the Greek state more freedom in the exercise of economic policy, within the framework of the existing rules that apply to all European member states, and brings closer the achievement of the final goal, which is the recovery the country's investment grade.
Greece will still be monitored by the EU institutions until 2059 when the country is estimated to repay 75% of the loans it received under the memoranda.
This will be done through a simple post-program monitoring phase, in similar vein to Ireland, Spain, Cyprus, and Portugal, and a biannual evaluation —rather than the current quarterly evaluations.
