The return of Kyriakos Mitsotakis from Paris, wherehe participated in the Nuclear Energy Summit and opened the issue of its use in our country, also marks the government’s decision time on the issue of the first economic measures to deal with the consequences of the war.

The decision, according to cross-checked information, is a done deal and announcements are expected to be made probably today, at worst tomorrow Thursday. After today’s morning coffee at the Maximou Mansion, Mitsotakis will go to the Presidential Mansion at 11:00 for his regular meeting with Costa Tasoulas and is expected to give an indication of his intentions. This will be followed by announcements likely to be made by a duo of relevant ministers, Development Minister Takis Theodorikakos and Environment and Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou.

As protothema.gr wrote yesterday, in the aftermath of the meeting held Monday night at the Maximou Mansion, the first weapon in the quiver is considered the cap on the profit margin of refineries and supermarkets, while in the fuel chain the cap will be double. Both in the sale from the refinery to the dealer and from the petrol station to the consumer. Sources with knowledge of the data say the cap will be “reasonable”, while a similar prediction is made for supermarkets. Also, given that there is currently a disproportionate increase in diesel fuel, the government is also considering reintroducing the measure of direct subsidy to refineries to make the product available at a lower price. The cap will be short term, but there will be the prospect of extending the arrangement depending on the length of time of the Middle East conflict, which no one can predict.

“It is one thing for prices at the pump to go up because international prices have risen and another thing for some ‘wily’ person to put on a ‘hat’ by taking advantage of the situation. It is a matter of priority to put up a wall of effective response against these practices. We have a full picture of the market and will take the necessary action. The measures will be very specific and the direction will be that every rogue should sit on his bench. By the end of the week, the government will present the initiatives,” Kostis Hatzidakis, the deputy prime minister told Ertnews yesterday. Hadjidakis is, after all, participating in the planning and the relevant meetings and has a clear sense of the direction and timing of the interventions.

The reserves and the hopes of de-escalation

The government will not, however, exhaust the range of interventions included in the “toolbox of the 2022 experience”, as described by Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis. This is partly to keep reserves for the future, which is unknown what it will be, and partly because there are also the European fiscal rules that will be put on the agenda of the EU summit next week, in the light of developments in the field.

It is a given that the Greek government would like an immediate de-escalation on the ground and does not ignore the… signs of negotiation that are looming on the horizon, as well as US President Trump’s attempt to “calm” the markets.

In this veinForeign Minister George Gerapetritis also moved yesterday. “I feel that we may be in a phase of relative de-escalation. I don’t expect that overnight the hostilities will stop and we will sit down at the negotiating table. But I do feel that there is increasingly a general understanding that this war will have no winners,” Gerapetritis said, speaking at the Alitheia Forum.