Once again, the “27” may not have reached measures to be precise as a result of the energy crisis, but Kyriakos Mitsotakis estimated that by the end of the summer the European Council should have taken its decisions.
By Penelope Galliou
With the support of the European partners in Greek-Turkish and a promising one for the energy in his suitcases, the Greek Prime Minister returns to Athens from Brussels Kyriakos Mitsotakis after the Summit and during the standard press conference he gave, sent clear messages addressed to Turkey for its provocativeness, the partners for their obstruction in making decisions on energy but also within the country for the support it will continue to provide to citizens to mitigate the effects of the energy crisis and the resulting precision. The Prime Minister also sent a message in political partiestrying to end without “but” and “asterisks” this time in the scenarios for early recourse to the polls.
The possibility of new measures against Ankara is open
Kyriakos Mitsotakis from the Belgian capital again sent a message to prevent of Turkish provocation, having the unanimous support of its European counterparts and leaving open the possibility of further measures against Ankara if it continues to provoke. There are two ways for Turkey, he explained “There is a path of de-escalation, of a productive dialogue with respect for international law, and unfortunately there is also a path of escalation which will obviously lead Turkey further away from the European family, always leaving open the possibility of taking some additional measures” warned.
He even characterized for the umpteenth time, the Turkish rhetoric against our country as non-existent, saying that Greece will not play the game of aggravation. “The question at the moment – as I have said many times – is to finally stop this extreme aggressive rhetoric of questioning Greek sovereignty. A rhetoric that is completely, but completely, legally non-existent. Besides, Greece has responded to all international fora very thoroughly, canceling all the “Turkish argument” said the Prime Minister. He reiterated that he personally, as well as the Greek Government, are not going to play the game of rhetorical tension which is often aimed at the internal audience. “We will act calmly, responsibly and decisively and will always separate foreign policy issues from domestic consumption issues.” concluded.
In full readiness in NATO
Turkey will receive a strict response in case it raises an issue demilitarization of the Greek islands – as Ankara rumors – at the NATO Summit next week. Asked about this, the Greek Prime Minister clarified that the agenda of the NATO Summit is different and does not include Greek-Turkish, but clarified “Obviously, if any issue is raised regarding the relations between Greece and Turkey, the appropriate answers will be given in the strictest way.”
The assessment of the attitude of Europeans
However, the Greek Prime Minister positively assessed the attitude of his European counterparts towards the provocation of Ankara, citing the extract of the conclusions of the Summit that condemns the Turkish provocation and calls on Turkey to reduce the tension. “We are fully covered by the Conclusions, as they were adopted unanimously and without – I would say – much discussion by the European Council, which expresses its strong concern about the Turkish provocation. The need for Turkey to respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all the Member States of the European Union and the call to Turkey, always respecting international law, to reduce tensions in the eastern Mediterranean in order to promote regional peace and stability ” The Prime Minister commented while referring to the possibility of his meeting with the Turkish President, reminding that he is not the one who cut the communication channels and again voted in favor of the dialogue.
Pending decisions on the electricity market
Once again, the “27” may not have reached measures to be precise as a result of the energy crisis, but Kyriakos Mitsotakis estimated that by the end of the summer the European Council should have taken its decisions.
“We had a big discussion on economic issues where again we all expressed strong concern about the rise in inflation. Inflation which to a large extent – as we have said many times and I have said many times and from this step – is fueled by high energy prices and especially gas prices. And I believe that the debate in the European Council has now matured to speed up the process even more so that the European Commission proposes changes in the way the European Union electricity market is organized. That is to say, there should be this much-discussed disconnection between gas prices and electricity prices. “I believe that this work by the European Commission, which – I stress – is extremely complex, will be ready by the end of the summer to be discussed as soon as possible at the next European Council, so that some final decisions can finally be taken.”
Greece is ready for all scenarios in the energy sector
But Greece, as it has already proven, is not waiting for the “EU slow-moving ship” to move to take action in the face of the energy crisis, with the Prime Minister assuring that we are ready for all scenariosreferring to developments in the energy sector and again calling on the EU to coordinate and take a common step.
“First of all, we have an obligation to prepare for the worst-case scenario,” he said, describing it as a complete cut-off of gas supplies from Russia to European markets. “And of course, European coordination is needed to deal with such a scenario. Not every country can move on its own and this is one of the issues we are discussing at European level as, as you understand, in interconnected markets we have an obligation to work together and coordinate in order to be able to manage the overall impact of such a negative scenario “he remarked.
Referring to Greece, he reminded that “70% of the import of natural gas in our country is directed to electricity generation, we have already prepared – in cooperation with the Energy Regulatory Authority and under the supervision of the competent Ministry – scenarios, so that we can generate electricity from other sources, that is, to increase the production of electricity from the units that consume lignite, before we reach more – let’s say – extreme scenarios of limiting the demand for electricity. We must be prepared for the worst case scenario and of course if that happens, we have no doubt that there will be an overall impact on the economic activity of the Eurozone.
However, our country, as the Prime Minister assured, is ready, it must be ready for the worst case scenario, not as he said because there are such assessments “but even if there is a small chance that we will face such a scenario, we must be ready” concluded.
Targeted mitigation interventions continue
The government, as Mr. Mitsotakis noted, will continue to do so targeted interventions against energy precision, adding that “horizontal measures do not seem to work, as noted by the President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde. “I will repeat once again that obviously Greece will not wait for the European Union to give a European answer to this problem. And it will continue to support households and businesses, as it has done in recent months with a series of interventions, whether they relate to electricity prices, or they relate to fuel, or they reduce electricity bills through electrical app programs. . We will continue to stand by the people so that, to the best of our ability, we can mitigate the effects of this exogenous global price increase, which should be managed by all European countries. » pointed out.
Brake on ecology
You are asked to answer a question about any early recourse to the polls and for the intense ecology that shadows the political scene, Kyriakos Mitsotakis referred to the answers he gave all the previous time in his interviews, while without “asterisks” or “but” he stated that “the government continues its work with even greater reform intensity and mood. No minister has downloaded any pencils and we still have a lot of work to do (…) The Government continues its work normally, undisturbed by all the literature that is developing around us. After all, we will soon enter the fourth year of our rule. I now have enough experience to know that it is very difficult to be able to convince you that there will be no elections or that there will be no reshuffle, as I know very well that these are the two favorite topics that you keep coming back to when you have nothing else to do. ask me “he commented.
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