The Greek government had appealed in 2010 in the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Since then, three rescue plans of 289 billion euros have been put in place by these creditors.
Le Monde with AFP
Twelve years later, Greece comes out of the reinforced surveillance imposed by the European Commission, a “historic day for [the country] and the Greeks,” the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, announced on Saturday August 20, in An address to the nation.
“A twelve -year cycle that has brought pain to citizens, stagnates the economy, and divide society closes,” said Mitsotakis. “A new clear horizon of growth, unity, prosperity emerges for everyone,” he added.
The Greek government had appealed in 2010 in the European Union (EU), the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, noting that its funds were empty. Since then, three rescue plans of 289 billion euros have been set up by these creditors.
The latter demanded from Athens to take austerity measures aimed at improving the country’s public finances and bringing money into the funds. Pensions and wages have been reduced, taxes, increased, hiring in the public, frosts, administration budgets, hospitals, and all public bodies have been amputated.
“Greece today is a different Greece “
In 2018, the third program ended but the European Commission then launched a reinforced surveillance regime for the Greek economy to verify the implementation of the reforms taken and the continuation of privatizations. Athens also undertook to maintain a primary surplus (before debt service) of 3.5 % of the gross domestic product (GDP).
“The end of the reinforced surveillance of Greece also marks the symbolic conclusion of the most difficult period that the euro zone has known,” said the European Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni on Saturday. “Our strong collective response to the pandemic [of COVVI-19] has shown that Europe had learned from this crisis,” he also said.
“Greece today is a different Greece,” said the Prime Minister. “We have strong growth and a significant drop in unemployment by 3 % since last year and 5 % since 2019” he also added.
The European Commission is expecting growth of 4 % this year, while it should rise in the euro zone, on average, at 2.6 %. But unemployment remains one of the highest in the euro zone, the minimum wage one of the weakest and the debt of 180 % of GDP remains a weight for the country’s economy.