Four years after the finalisation of the third Greek bailout, Greece is no longer subject to the close fiscal surveillance imposed on it by its European institutional creditors in the summer of 2018 (see EUROPE 12958/2).
Greece is closing “a difficult chapter in its long and proud history”, EU Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said in a statement the same day. In a letter to Greek Finance Minister Christos Staïkoúras in early August, he said that Greece had fulfilled “the bulk of the policy commitments” made since the end of the economic adjustment programme in June 2018, and that “it has managed to implement effective reforms, even under the difficult circumstances created by the Covid-19 pandemic and, more recently, by Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine”.
Other reforms are to be completed by November, notably in the areas of justice, health and land registration. They will be the subject of a first report prepared in the framework of the normal post-rescue budgetary surveillance. This report will serve as a basis for a decision by the Eurogroup on the granting of a final tranche of financial assistance.
In his reply to Gentiloni’s letter, Staikoúras stressed that the reform process led by the current government will continue, notably in the framework of the Greek recovery plan, with €17.4 billion, in the framework of the European Recovery Plan Next Generation EU. “Fully on track”, the Greek plan includes major reforms and investments that will strengthen Greece’s productive capacity as well as its social cohesion, he added.
According to the Commission’s economic forecasts, growth in Greece is expected to reach 4.0% of national GDP this year, after a rebound to 8.3% in 2021 linked to the lifting of the containment measures imposed at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2022, the Greek public deficit is expected to decrease to -4.3% of GDP and the public debt to 185.7% of GDP, the highest ratio of the euro area countries.
See Mr Gentiloni’s letter: https://aeur.eu/f/2rt
See Mr Staïkoúras’: https://aeur.eu/f/2ru (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)