Greece exits EU surveillance

Greece has exited the European Union's enhanced surveillance framework. Country's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis made this announcement and  said, it ends 12 years of pain and allows the country greater freedom in policy making. Exiting the enhanced surveillance framework means greater national leeway in our economic choices, he said. EU officials had confirmed Saturday’s exit earlier this month, saying Athens had delivered on the bulk of its commitments.. Greece was hit with waves of pension cuts, spending constraint, tax increases and bank controls after it was forced to seek its first bailout in 2010. The economy shrank 25 per cent during the bailouts.
Greek economic developments and policy have been monitored under the framework since 2018, after Athens exited three international bailouts, totaling more than 260 billion euros, from the European Union and the IMF between 2010 and 2015. Ending the oversight will strengthen Greece's international market position by increasing its attractiveness to investors. Athens will also now have greater control over its domestic economic policy. The end of enhanced surveillance for Greece also marks the symbolic conclusion of the most challenging period the euro area has experienced, Paolo Gentiloni, the European Commissioner for Economy, said in a statement.

Greece – like fellow bailed-out EU members Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Ireland – will still be monitored by its creditors while paying back its debts. In Greece's case, that will take another two generations, with the last loans due for repayment in 2070. According to European Commission projections, the Greek economy will grow by 4 percent this year, much higher than the eurozone average of 2.6 percent. However, Greece's unemployment rate is one of the highest in the monetary union, its minimum wage one of the lowest and the country's debt is 180 percent of gross domestic product