“I believe that Europe has proven much more resilient in this decade that we are leaving behind, much stronger in conditions of pressure and crisis. This is done in relation to the war as well, we lack the policy mix for de-dependence on Russian energy. We have alternative providers from reliable third countries, the USA, Qatar, Norway, Egypt” said Mr. Schinas.
“As a consequence of war and beyond, ingredients of a perfect storm are gathering. And even in areas that we Europeans had forgotten. Generations of Europeans had forgotten what inflation meant, they had forgotten what high energy prices meant,” pointed out the vice-president of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas, speaking on ERT1’s “Analyse it” show.
“I believe that Europe has proven much more resilient in this decade that we are leaving behind, much stronger in conditions of pressure and crisis. This is done in relation to the war as well, we lack the policy mix for de-dependence on Russian energy. We have alternative providers from reliable third countries, the USA, Qatar, Norway, Egypt” said Mr. Schinas.
He added: “We have European winter storage which will see us through it without a hitch. For the first time, we have created a national protection shield for the most vulnerable consumers. And inevitably we have to learn in Europe to raise the temperature on the air condition and lower it on the radiator, to have less dependence on the car. This will not change the way we live.”
Asked about Euro-Turkish relations, Mr. Schinas said:
“It was the EU that formulated a mixture of threat of sanctions and incentives and led Turkey, in the hellish summer of 2020, to a spectacular turnaround and its research ships returned to its ports. In Greece there is a reflexive perception that sanctions solve problems. The cocktail of threat of sanctions and incentives proved far more effective.”
Answering the question “what is Erdoğan for Europe?”, the vice-president of the Commission emphasized:
“The position of Europe will depend on the answer that Erdogan himself will give about the future of Turkey and his own. He owes us a clear decision. If Turkey is much more comfortable with Tehran, Hezbollah and Moscow, or if it feels more comfortable with NATO, the EU and the West. In Madrid he gave a transitional answer. He has not given a definitive answer, he still owes it to us. I believe that he will give it to us only after the electoral field is formed in Turkey. Because while it is pending, given that his voter base is of the Islamic faith, he is comfortable with the vague mix of political positioning. Once he puts it behind him I think he will give us the answer and I suspect it will be the right answer.”
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