Commission officially announces an end to enhanced surveillance regime for Greece, ending epilogue of bailout era

The European Commission will not expand the enhanced surveillance regime for Greece once it expires on Aug. 20, Brussels announced on Wednesday.

In a statement, the Commission said that “following exchanges with the Greek authorities, including at the Eurogroup meeting of June 16, the Commission acknowledges that Greece has delivered on the bulk of the policy commitments made to the Eurogroup upon its exit from the economic adjustment program in June 2018, and that it has achieved effective reform implementation, even under the challenging circumstances created by the Covid-19 pandemic and, more recently, by Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine.”

The statement also noted that because of Greece‘s efforts, “the resilience of the Greek economy has substantially improved and the risks of spill-over effects on the Euro area economy have diminished significantly. Hence, maintaining Greece under enhanced surveillance is no longer justified.”

The European Commission added that a supervision of the country’s economic, fiscal and financial status will continue with the context of the post-program surveillance (PPS) and the European semester.

The monitoring of the outstanding reform commitments will be undertaken in the context of the first PPS report to be issued in November, which could serve as a basis for a Eurogroup decision on the final tranche of debt relief measures agreed in June 2018.

The Commission welcomed Greece’s achievements and its commitment to maintain reforms beyond the end of the enhanced surveillance regime. EU Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis and Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni have already briefed Greek authorities.

The development was also previously confirmed in a FT article, with the UK financial daily stating that the end of enhanced scrutiny of Greece’s finances marks an end to a “debt crisis triggered by the 2008 global financial tumult that almost pushed the country out of the eurozone.”

According to FT, a letter by Gentiloni to Greek finance minister Christos Staikouras states that the country had “delivered on the bulk of the policy commitments” made to the Eurogroup of 19 eurozone member states and “achieved effective reform implementation” despite the impact of Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine.

Taking to Twitter, the Greek minister said the development “marks the achievement of a major national goal for Greece”.