What does exiting the enhanced surveillance regime mean for Greece – Newsbomb – News
Greece can now exercise its economic policy freely, with priorities determined only by the respective government and not by Brussels
A new era is entering Greek economy, after 12 years of strict surveillance by the institutions and now Greece ceases to be the exception of Europe. The long-awaited one exit of the country from the regime of enhanced supervision which was announced today by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, brings the definitive end to the era of memoranda.
Greece will be able to exercise its economic policy freely, with priorities that will be determined only by the respective government and not by Brussels, while the recovery of the European rank is now visible – to which the prime minister referred extensively in the past for its importance of-, within 2023 or even earlier.
Now, the economic policy that focuses on creating fiscal space through the growth of GDP and revenues of a permanent nature, from which measures to support citizens are financed, Fuel Pass, Power Pass, ENFIA reduction and other tax reliefs.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke about a historic day, about a long period that brought to citizens, stagnation in the economy and division in society. “Now a new, clear horizon of growth, unity and prosperity for all is emerging”, were the words of the prime minister.
“August 20, 2022 is a historic day for Greece and the Greeks: in the most official way, our country exits the Enhanced Surveillance regime. Thus closes a twelve-year cycle that brought pain to the citizens, stagnation in the economy and division in society. But for a new, clear horizon to emerge, growth, unity and prosperity for all”
“Greece today is another Greece. It shows high growth and a big drop in unemployment, which has already dropped 3 points from last year and 5 from 2019. Everyone pays less contributions and almost everyone lower ENFIA. The minimum wage was increased by 63 euros. And the weakest are targeted,” the prime minister then noted.
The exit of Greece from the regime of enhanced supervision was also commented positively by the highest officials of the European Union. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the Eurogroup, Pascal Donahue, and the President of the Council, Charles Michel, welcomed the exit of Greece from the regime, immediately after the message of the Greek Prime Minister.
“As of today, Greece is officially outside the Enhanced Surveillance regime. A regime it had entered, alone in Europe, in 2018. Our country, after 12 years, is returning to European normality and is not the exception in the Eurozone. A key national goal has been achieved!”, said the Minister of Finance Christos Staikouras.
“It is an exit that comes after four years,” he said in the Minister of Finance’s statements and continued, “we were scheduled to exit in August 2022 but our country had to go through 14 post-memorandum evaluations with a positive sign. Greece has succeeded and thus is now going into a simple monitoring regime, which will last a relatively long time, in order to repay 75% of the loans taken from the European partners”.
Among the positives is the expansion of the government’s ability to pursue a looser fiscal policy, within European rules.
This development has many implications for the country:
- It closes, in combination with the early repayment of loans from the International Monetary Fund and the lifting of capital restrictions, a painful chapter for Greece.
- It strengthens the country’s position in international markets.
- It provides an additional boost to the development potential of our country and the attraction of investments.
- It grants degrees of freedom in the exercise of economic policy, within the framework of course of the rules that apply to all European member states.
- It proves the dynamics that the Greek economy has acquired since, despite the unprecedented external difficulties, the country is achieving the goals it sets.