ATHENS – After the country’s exit from the status of enhanced surveillance on August 20, Greece will have more freedom over its economic policy.

As Finance Minister Christos Staikouras has pointed out, “we will have greater flexibility in the mix of measures, always respecting and observing European rules.”

Greece will be able to exercise its economic policy freely, with priorities determined by the government and not by Brussels, while it will be subject to the same control rules to which the rest of Europe is subject to.

The surveillance by the European institutions will continue until 2059, i.e. until the country repays 75% of the loans received under the memoranda. However, the country will move to a stage of simple post-program monitoring, while an evaluation of the course of the economy will be carried out every six months. There will also be an assessment by the European Stability Mechanism every quarter, as is the case for all the countries that borrowed from the ESM, which, however, is not made public, but records the stability of the member states’ economies.

The pandemic and the energy crisis, combined with the war in Ukraine left a series of prerequisites that could not be completed within the framework of the surveillance. These are linked to the disbursement of the last installment from the profits of the Greek bonds. The list includes 22 prerequisites that have to be met until October (financial sector, liquidation of arrears, reduction of outstanding pensions, primary care, Land Registry, labor law, etc.).