In simple supervision based on the European semester from the 20th of the month Greece

By Tasos Dasopoulos

The letter in which they officially declare that they are not going to extend Greece’s enhanced supervision regime after August 20 was made public today by the vice-president of the European Commission, Mr. Valdis Dombrovskis, and the commissioner responsible for economic affairs, Mr. Paolo Gentiloni.

With the letter which marks the end of the enhanced supervision after 4 years and which has been in the hands of the finance minister Mr. Christos Staikouras since the 12th of the month, the two leading EU officials congratulate the Greek authorities for the number of commitments they have fulfilled during successive crises such as the Covid 19 pandemic and today the energy crisis due to the war in Ukraine.

The text of the letter from the Community officials is as follows:

“Following our recent contacts, including at the last Eurogroup meeting, we are pleased to confirm that the Commission does not intend to extend enhanced surveillance beyond its expiry on 20 August 2022.

Greece has met most of the policy commitments it made to the Eurogroup when it exited this economic adjustment program in June 2018 and has achieved effective reform implementation, even

under the difficult conditions created by the Covid-19 pandemic and, more recently, by Russia’s military attack on Ukraine.

As a result, the resilience of the Greek economy has improved significantly and the risks of contagion to other euro area member states have been significantly reduced. Hence keeping Greece under enhanced supervision is no longer justified.

The monitoring of the economic, fiscal and financial situation of Greece will continue in the context of the post-programme surveillance (PPS) and the European Semester. The first PPS report, expected in November 2022, will track the specific commitments underlying the disbursement of the final tranche of debt relief measures agreed in June 2018. In addition, significant reforms and investments in

Greek recovery and resilience plan. We welcome Greece’s commitment to continued reforms implemented after the end of enhanced surveillance.

We would like to congratulate you on all of the above achievements and look forward to continued excellent cooperation in the future.

Vice-President of the Commission Valdis Dobrovskis

Economic Affairs Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni”

The answer of the Minister of Finance

In his reply letter, the Minister of Finance, Mr. Christos Staikouras, after thanking the two community officials, highlighting the effort made in the last three years to close the outstanding issues of the third memorandum and to make the economy more resilient and with a positive growth rate, and promises the continuation of the reforms

“The Greek economy, like all the economies of our Union, is currently facing significant uncertainty and risks caused by Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine. The response to this new, exogenous shock is to continue our reform effort after the end of enhanced supervision. Greece’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, currently in full swing, includes significant reforms and investments. Investments through the fund will help further upgrade Greece’s productive capacity, increase long-term output and strengthen of economic resilience and social cohesion” the finance minister noted in the letter, among other things

Earlier in the morning, in a statement, the finance minister noted that the country’s exit from Enhanced Supervision has multiple benefits:

– Strengthens the position of Greece in the international markets.

– Provides an additional boost to its growth potential and investment attraction.

– It grants degrees of freedom in the exercise of economic policy, within the framework of course of the existing rules that apply to all European member states.

– It brings closer the achievement of the last goal we have set, that of the recovery of the investment grade.

Until today, despite the unprecedented, multi-level crises and the new – pan-European and international – challenges, we have proved, citizens and state, that we can succeed.