“The time has come to make European decisions to deal with the most critical issue that concerns all European societies”, said Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, entering the European Council, which he described as “critical”.

The PM stressed that the high cost of energy has knock-on effects on very high levels of inflation. “I think that after a lot of preparatory work we have now reached the point where we have at our disposal a package of proposals from the European Commission that moves in the right direction”, he added.

Continuing he said: “I want to repeat that the Greek government will continue to support Greek society and especially our most vulnerable fellow citizens so that we can overcome this difficult winter together. We have spent over 7 billion in 2022 alone, a significant part of which has come from the energy producers themselves, and in this way, we have managed to keep electricity bills at acceptable levels. It is, moreover, something that all Greek citizens find out when they receive their bills and see the amount of the subsidy and realize what they would have paid if there had not been this significant state intervention.”

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“I believe that the proposals made by the European Commission are moving in the right direction. We’re talking about an overall package, part of which is what we call a “price ceiling” or a “price corridor,” that will put a cap on the extreme volatility we’ve seen in the TTF index.”

I believe there are ways to overcome what could be a legitimate concern from member states who are afraid of logistical security. I believe that the European Commission has thought through its proposals well and I would expect that by the end of the Summit there will be an agreement to entrust the European Commission with moving forward with these proposals, which would include what we call a ‘TTF cap”.

“I believe that this is required today at the level of European leadership. I think we have already wasted a lot of time. We have paid Russia unnecessary amounts in terms of excessive gas prices. And if we want to send a message to European societies that there is a European solution to what is essentially a European problem, we should act now.”