Commission for Greece’s exit from enhanced supervision: ‘The resilience of its economy has improved significantly’

The European Commission confirmed today that as of August 20, Greece is exiting the enhanced surveillance regime.

Following exchanges with the Greek authorities, including at the Eurogroup meeting on 16 June, the Commission, in its statement, emphasizes that it recognizes that Greece has fulfilled most of the policy commitments it made to the Eurogroup when exiting the economic program of adjustment in June 2018 and that it has succeeded in effectively implementing reforms, even under the difficult conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic and more recently, by Russia’s military offensive against Ukraine.

The Commission also notes that, as a result of Greece’s efforts, the resilience of the Greek economy has improved significantly and the risks of spillovers to the euro area economy have been significantly reduced. Therefore, keeping Greece under enhanced surveillance is no longer justified.

Monitoring of the country’s economic, fiscal and financial situation will continue in the context of post-programme surveillance and the European Semester. Monitoring of outstanding reform commitments will take place in the context of the first post-programme report to be issued in November 2022, which could serve as the basis for a Eurogroup decision on the final tranche of debt relief measures agreed in June 2018. Major reforms and investments are also foreseen in the Greek recovery and resilience plan.

The Commission welcomes Greece’s achievements and its commitment to continue reforms beyond the end of enhanced supervision. The vice-president of the Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, and the commissioner for the economy, Paolo Gentiloni, have already informed the Greek authorities.