Twelve years later, Greece is emerging from the enhanced surveillance imposed by the European Commission, a “historic day for [le pays] and the Greeksannounced on Saturday August 20, the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in an address to the nation.
“A twelve-year cycle that has brought pain to citizens, stagnated the economy, and divided society is closing”estimated by M. Mitsotakis. “A clear new horizon of growth, unity, prosperity is emerging for all”he added.
The Greek government appealed in 2010 to the European Union (EU), the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, noting that its coffers were empty. Since then, three rescue plans of 289 billion euros have been put in place by these creditors.
The latter demanded that Athens take austerity measures aimed at improving the country’s public finances and bringing money into the coffers. Pensions and wages have been reduced, taxes increased, public hiring frozen, the budgets of administrations, hospitals, and all public bodies have been cut.
“Greece today is a different Greece”
In 2018, the third program ended but the European Commission then launched a regime of enhanced surveillance of the Greek economy to verify the implementation of the reforms taken and the continuation of privatizations. Athens has also pledged to maintain a primary surplus (before debt service) of 3.5% of gross domestic product (GDP).
“The end of the enhanced surveillance of Greece also marks the symbolic conclusion of the most difficult period that the euro zone has known”underlined Saturday, in a press release, the European Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni. “Our strong collective response to the pandemic [de Covid-19] showed that Europe had learned the lessons of this crisis”he also said.
“Greece today is a different Greece”also assured the Prime Minister. “We have strong growth and a significant drop in unemployment of 3% since last year and 5% since 2019” he also added.
The European Commission expects growth of 4% this year, while it should rise in the euro zone, on average, to 2.6%. But unemployment remains one of the highest in the euro zone, the minimum wage one of the lowest and the debt of 180% of GDP remains a burden on the country’s economy.