PM highlights East Med energy merits
Mitsotakis pushes alternative route as EU leaders discuss response to soaring prices
In the wake of this week’s agreement for the power interconnection of Greece and Egypt, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitstotakis referred to the importance of the East Mediterranean to deal with the energy crisis, which he said could under certain conditions provide an alternative energy route for the European Union.
Speaking in Brussels, where EU leaders are meeting to debate their response to soaring energy prices, Mitsotakis said this can be the case “whether we are talking about natural gas, which can be transported in liquefied form from Egypt to Greece and from there to the European gas network, or electricity, which can be generated again in North Africa in very favorable conditions and transported via a cable, again, from Egypt to Europe via Greece.”
Indeed it was no coincidence that during his speech at the 1st Athens ESG and Climate Crisis Summit on Wednesday, Mitsotakis stated that “Egypt has very large areas that are essentially desert and there are no problems in terms of land use” and “can produce solar energy, probably even cheaper compared to Greece.”
The proposal by Mitsotakis highlights that Europe’s energy autonomy, as the current crisis has shown, is at a very low level, with the continent essentially dependent on Moscow, which seems to be taking advantage of the emergency conditions.
Overall, Mitsotakis said it is necessary to address the problem on a more structural level, with interventions that can be launched, in the first phase, by the European Commission.
He highlighted the merits of purchasing natural gas from the European Union and the possibility of increasing gas storage, “so that we have fewer short-term market distortions when we need more gas.”
Greece, in cooperation with Italy, also raised the issue of expediting decisions on the special mechanism for the partial repayment of debts from the energy crisis.
At the same time, migration, which will be discussed Friday, was also high on Mitsotakis’ agenda.
Even though the issue is not at the forefront of the news, as it was two years ago, is still a major problem for Greece, especially as a first host country, after the crisis in Afghanistan.
