PM on energy crisis, relations with Turkey
The government will continue to support households and businesses for as long as necessary in terms of helping them cover their electricity bills, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told CNN in an interview on Thursday, explaining that the Greek economy has been overperforming and has the fiscal space to do so.
However, he added, the European Union also needs to act on the energy crisis before the coming winter. “We are using [various] methods to make sure we reduce our dependence on gas, but this needs to be done in a much more organized manner at the European level and in also in a manner that is credible for the international gas markets,” he said, outlining the steps Greece is taking so far.
The Greek prime minister also spoke of Turkey’s recent escalation in aggression towards Greece, stressing that “the last thing that NATO, the last thing that Europe needs is another source of instability in southeastern Europe.”
“We have an obligation to sort out our differences with Turkey and there is only one playbook that we can use and that is the playbook of international law,” he said.
“I really believe that President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan would serve his people much better if he focused on reviving the ailing Turkish economy rather than reviving neo-Ottoman revisionist fantasies,” Mitsotakis added.
He also referred to the elections scheduled for the spring of next year, expressing the hope that Greek citizens would give his government an opportunity to govern for another four years.
