Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed the need for European intervention in the pricing of electricity during his press conference after the EU Summit in Versailles, France on the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine.

The PM announced a Summit of the countries of the South before the next EU Summit, while he said a series of measures would be announced by the end of next week to support households.

Among other things, Mitsotakis highlighted the positive response from the EU partners to the Greek proposal for a cap on the wholesale price of natural gas. He also stressed the need for European intervention in the pricing of electricity.

Mitsotakis defended Greece’s decision to support Ukraine not only with humanitarian aid but also with the sending of military equipment, saying that the rest of the EU countries did the same and that it would be a mistake of Greek foreign policy not to follow suit.

Mitsotakis underlined that Europe is facing the biggest refugee crisis, with 2,000,000 refugees due to the war in Ukraine, standing in European solidarity and pointing out that the EU did not show a similar attitude when Greece faced the refugee crisis in Eastern Mediterranean.

Referring to the energy crisis, the PM stressed the need for Europe to become independent from Russian gas as soon as possible, saying that new suppliers must be sought and Greece can be a gateway. At the same time, he said that the procedures for Renewable Energy Sources should be simplified, in order for cheap energy to reach consumers.

The Prime Minister referred to the Greek proposal for the imposition of a cap on the wholesale price of gas and said that an explicit reference was included in the final document. He also said that there should be intervention in the pricing of electricity, where there are distortions.