Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced in a video address on Saturday that Greece is exiting the EU's "enhanced surveillance framework," which was imposed in return for bailouts after a crushing debt crisis.

Greek economic developments and policy have been monitored under the framework since 2018, after Athens exited three international bailouts, totaling more than 260 billion euros, from the EU and the International Monetary Fund between 2010 and 2015.

Following the bailouts, Greece's creditors demanded across-the-board reforms from Athens, including deep state spending and salary cuts, tax hikes, privatizations and other sweeping reforms aimed at righting public finances.

The economy contracted by more than a quarter, unemployment spiked to almost 28 percent and skilled professionals emigrated in droves.

"A cycle of 12 years which brought pain to citizens, led to economic stagnation and divided society," has ended, Mitsotakis said.

"A new horizon filled with growth, unity and prosperity emerges for all," he said. "The Greece of today is a different Greece."

"We have recorded strong growth and a significant slide in unemployment of three percent since last year and 5 percent since 2019," he added.

Ending the oversight will strengthen Greece's international market position by increasing its attractiveness to investors. Athens will also now have greater control over its domestic economic policy.

"The end of enhanced surveillance for Greece also marks the symbolic conclusion of the most challenging period the euro area has experienced," Paolo Gentiloni, the European Commissioner for Economy, said in a statement.

Greece – like fellow bailed-out EU members Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Ireland – will still be monitored by its creditors while paying back its debts.

In Greece's case, that will take another two generations, with the last loans due for repayment in 2070.

According to European Commission projections, the Greek economy will grow by 4 percent this year, much higher than the eurozone average of 2.6 percent.

However, Greece's unemployment rate is one of the highest in the monetary union, its minimum wage one of the lowest and the country's debt is 180 percent of gross domestic product.

(Sources: Reuters and AFP with edits)