By Penelope Galliou
The burning issue of Europe’s energy dependence on Russia will be discussed today at the Extraordinary Summit of EU Energy Ministers with the focus on the issue of payment for Russian gas in rubles, as Moscow claims and European countries react.
The extraordinary meeting was convened by the French Minister of Energy, Barbara Pompili, after the interruption of the delivery of Russian gas to Poland and Bulgaria, noting in a post that “the Europeans remain united and in solidarity”.
It is recalled that the Russian Gazprom cut off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday (27/4) due to their refusal to pay in rublessparking an economic war with Europe in response to Western sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine.
According to statements by the Minister of Energy, Costa Skreka, our country will pay Gazprom in a way that will not violate sanctions and will ensure the country’s energy security.
The Prime Minister also referred to the sanctions against Russia by the EU in an interview where he noted that they are important and have already brought results, however “We must be very careful so that the measures we take do not end up hurting us more, “EU countries, rather than harming Russia, as the European economy can not fully and directly replace Russian gas from other suppliers.”
The countdown to the national support plan
At home, however, the countdown to the new national program to support households and businesses in the face of continuing energy precision has already begun. “We will exhaust the margins of support for society” is the message conveyed by all government officials, which the Prime Minister reiterated emphatically in his interview, delimiting the time horizon of the announcements. “I have said that in the absence of a European response to this problem, the government is ready to take significant additional steps to absorb as much of the increase in electricity bills as possible, I will announce the package of proposals in May and, even if not adopted by the European Council, they will take effect in June. “This is what we have been doing since the beginning of the crisis and this is what we will continue to do,” he said.
For substantial intervention, horizontal reinforcement for all and with a long time horizon that will be announced in May to address the accuracy of the current, he spoke in an interview to SKAI, the government representative, Giannis Oikonomouemphasizing that we will never see electricity bills 4 and 5 times over again.
Pointing out that the government feels the anxiety and indignation of the people, the government spokesman Giannis Oikonomou, stressed that the government is ready “for a very substantial intervention that will do three things. In essence, companies will see this substantial increase, and in fact some companies even more retrospectively in terms of the price of electricity. Secondly, these measures will obviously apply in May, and thirdly, and more importantly, the Prime Minister will soon announce a very substantial intervention, a national plan regardless of what will happen in Europe, which will result in a drastic reduction in the price of electricity that the citizen will pay “.
In addition, the government spokesman clarified that this is a horizontal aid that will affect all consumers and those who consume more than 300 kwh, explaining “It will be for everyone and while the first phase of aid focused on the weakest and those who were up to 300 kWh, the reality is that consumers over 300 kWh have killed in the past and we are now coming to deal with this even more decisively. “
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