Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis took a public and unequivocal stand at yesterday’s Ministerial Council meeting, picking up the gauntlet of criticism from former Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras regarding the Chevron contract. At the same time, the government camp sees the energy agreement as a moment of vindication of the government’s policy, which came back into focus after the relevant signatures in Washington, which put Greece on the new global energy map.

Exercises of sovereignty in practice

Sending clear messages in all directions, a few hours after the energy agreements with the Chevron-Helleniq Energy consortium were signed in the United States in the presence of Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou, the Prime Minister spoke of “professional worriers” who “are in a defeatist stalking frenzy“. As Mitsotakis stressed, “Greece is thus exercising its sovereign rights in practice, not in words, and is becoming the main gateway to the entry and distribution of natural gas to all the states of central and eastern Europe”. In this context, “let’s not upset some ‘professional worriers’ and let’s not look for traps in the clauses of the agreements set to shield the State against any claims for compensation from the companies,” the Prime Minister added.

“Greece that is not afraid”

At the same time, the Prime Minister focused during his remarks on the further deepening of Greek-American relations, since, apart from Mr Papastavrou, Athens was the meeting between the Foreign Minister, Giorgos Gerapetritis with the head of the State Department, Marko Rubio. Specifically, “those who still live with a defeatist persecution mania to think that, so far, only Turkey and, unfortunately, they themselves oppose our country’s national course, are out of place and out of time at a time when the Secretary of State is in Washington, D.C., meeting for the second time in a year with his American counterpart, deepening our bilateral strategic relationship. It does not undermine the country’s position to exploit its wealth and consolidate its rights in practice. It is undermined by miserable questioning. Because true patriots, you know, are not those who constantly express fears. But those who build a Greece that is not afraid!”, the Prime Minister said.

Geopolitical footprint

At the same time, the results of the Greek-American partnership in the energy field came at a moment of global geopolitical volatility with decades of rearrangements in international interdependence, a fact that the Prime Minister did not overlook, saying that “ExxonMobil and Chevron are among the leading companies investing in our country, in our waters, with big Greek companies. They thus underline that they are entering with solid prospects for the future of the country, while the investments exceed 1 billion euros, with a public benefit of 40%”. The deals have a geopolitical footprint. “It is no coincidence that the developments are accompanied by the 3+1 platform. Our energy policy is emerging as a pillar of our foreign policy,” Mitsotakis said.

Following this, the Prime Minister spoke of the vindication of the government’s policy, stressing that the energy landscape in the Southeastern Mediterranean creates new facts and acquisitions. “Such investments create very important acquis, linked to our national issues,” Mitsotakis stressed. The energy contract, moreover, was on the cabinet agenda for another reason, as “Greece is already discussing Libya as we speak, as we did with Egypt. And a positive development must be compatible with the progress of the investigations,” the Prime Minister concluded.