Greek Prime Minister demands Green Deal rethink on energy adaptation

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has warned that Europe cannot allow its industrial competitiveness to “wither away” in the face of opposition from the US and China.

And his call was supported by Dimitri Papalexopoulos, chairman of Athens-headquartered Titan Cement International, who said Europe “urgently needs a growth strategy and an economic restart” otherwise it risks “de-industrializing before its industries turn ‘green’.”

Both men were speaking at the Eurelectric Power Summit in Athens, where the theme of industrial competitiveness – and Europe’s urgent need to get some – permeated the whole conference programme.

Papalexopoulos said there were already “reasons to be worried”, adding that foreign direct investment into Europe has dropped – while in the US, on the back of the Inflation Reduction Act, it has risen.

“In the technology world, we have lost the race for the platforms to the US and China,” he said, adding that this was happening when Europe “needs to invest more in the green transition”.

A transition, he stressed, that has “turned out to be more expensive than we thought”.

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He said Europe needed a change of mindset: “We need a shift from over-regulating and setting target upon target. We need a playbook to enable our private sector, not police it.”

Prime Minister Mitsotakis said there was a “clear mismatch at European level on the green and digital transition and the resources allocated to them”, explaining that for many countries, the energy transformation was one of adaptation.

“There a dis-continuity in the Green Deal for funding for adaptation. We need to recognize that the climate crisis will need funding for adaptation.”

He said Greece had proved it could turn turn adversity into success following the country’s bounce-back from its sovereign debt crisis after the 2007 financial crisis, and he added that the country’s energy sector was one of the beacons of “the Greek turnaround”.

“Energy has been one of the sectors where our progress has been most extraordinary,” he said, highlighting how Greece was ahead of its target to close all its lignite-fired power plants by 2028, and is around fourth in the world for growth in penetration of wind and solar.

According to IEA figures, in 2022 45% of the country’s power generation came from renewable energy, and in 2023 it was reported that this had risen to 57%.

And he added that “we have yet to tap our biggest resource: offshore wind in the Aegean Sea”.

He was speaking on the day that Eurelectric launched a new report called Grids for Speed, which highlights the immediate challenges for a fast-track rollout of resources – both technology and people – to future-proof the electricity grid.

Mitsotakis – who comes from Greece’s largest island Crete – said that the grid was vital for a nation that comprises so many islands and emphasized the success so far of an interconnection between Crete and the mainland, which earlier this year secured €250m European Union funding.

“Greece is no longer the problem child of Europe,” he said: “It’s now seen as punching above its weight.”

See what happened when Enlit on the Road visited Athens