EU too severe on Greece over debt crisis, former Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker concedes

Greece is finally turning the page on its debt crisis, with the end to the system of Enhanced Surveillance, put in place to allow European institutions to keep an eye on the government's books.

When 12 years ago Athens said it may have to default on its debt, the ensuing crisis shook the European Union to its core.

To avoid default, the EU and the International Monetary Fund provided hundreds of billion euros in emergency funding - but this didn't come for free.

Creditors demanded Athens implement austerity policies, which finally led to a substantial rise in poverty.

The economy contracted by more than a quarter, the citizens' disposable income by one-third, and unemployment rates spiked to almost 30%.

Now, some leaders admit they were too tough on Greece, which finally delivered.

"The Greek citizens themselves have many, many reasons to be proud," says the EU Commission president of the time, Jean-Claude Juncker. "Because they have suffered a lot during this awful period. Their dignity was not always respected. Measures imposed on Greek society were too austere."

Juncker was speaking to Euronews's Efi Koutsokosta in the Global Conversation. And Greece's finance minister of the time goes further, saying the EU's austerity-driven approach has fuelled today's populist movements.

"I think Europe has been behind the curve," says Euclid Tsakalotos, who was the last Greek finance minister of the bailout era. "I think that there is a real threat to the EU still, which is this divergence in the fate of the economies between Northern Europe and Southern Europe. If you want to understand Salvini and Meloni, if you want to understand Golden Dawn, if you want to understand the rise of the new right, then the economic policies that lead to