Strong pressure for immediate measures to address the new energy crisis is being exerted by Greek industry, which believes it is not adequately covered by the government’s measures announced so far to ease the escalation in energy costs.

With natural gas prices rising above €211 per megawatt-hour yesterday and uncertainty returning to the markets before the onset of the severe cold, energy-intensive businesses are calling for a stable protection framework, similar to the one already being activated by their European competitors.

Pressure on the government, however, is not being expressed in an entirely unified manner. The joint resolution issued yesterday by EVIKEN was backed by 16 bodies from the industrial and productive sectors, but SEV was absent. The absence of the country’s largest business association from the mass mobilization highlights the fact that, despite their shared concern over energy costs, the industrial sector is not moving as a unified front.

According to information, SEV is expected to address energy costs at its upcoming general assembly on October 6, with President Spyros Theodoropoulos speaking in the presence of the Prime Minister. The intervention is expected with particular interest, as it will show whether the association will align itself with the call for immediate protection tools, as has been advocated by the rest of the industrial sector.

EVIKEN’s intervention yesterday reflects the demand of more than 700 manufacturing companies, which represent a critical link in production, exports and employment. The association is calling for the immediate use of European state-aid tools so that businesses can gain greater visibility and protection against extreme fluctuations in electricity prices.

The Transition Is Not Enough on Its Own

The message was reinforced by yesterday’s intervention by Evangelos Mytilineos, who expressed the concerns of heavy energy-intensive industry over energy costs. As he points out, the European Union still consumes approximately 450 million tons of oil and 340 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually, quantities that will remain significant through 2030 and 2035.

For many more years, hydrocarbons will continue to affect the competitiveness of European industry, wholesale electricity prices and the bills paid by households and businesses.

The green transition remains the only way forward, but its benefits will not be immediately reflected in production costs. They require investments in clean generation, grids, storage and flexibility, which take time to complete and integrate into the energy system.

Heavy energy-intensive industry is calling for a unified European response to the new crisis, with common funding and coordinated support tools instead of a patchwork of national interventions. The argument is that otherwise, companies’ competitiveness will increasingly depend on the fiscal strength of the country in which they are based.

Greek Industry Calls for a Level Playing Field

For industry representatives, the issue is not only the re-emergence of high natural gas and electricity prices. It is primarily the unequal position in which Greek companies find themselves compared with their European competitors.

As they point out, countries such as Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Austria and Ireland are making use of the new European state-aid margins to protect their industrial base. Greece, they argue, should not be left out of this effort.

The request concerns the use of the European Commission’s CISAF framework to support clean industry, as well as the temporary METSAF, which was activated due to the crisis in the Middle East. These tools allow support for the electricity costs of energy-intensive businesses, linking the aid to investments that permanently reduce their exposure to energy costs.

EVIKEN’s proposal provides for a significant portion of the aid, up to 50%, to be reinvested in storage, flexibility, energy efficiency, electrification and decarbonization of the production process. The logic is that immediate relief from expensive electricity should be combined with the creation of a more resilient industrial sector for the future.

Faced with the new energy turmoil, industry believes it has not seen any new targeted intervention. The government points to the package announced last April, including a 50% reduction in public service obligation (PSO) charges from July 1, 2026, and enhanced compensation for indirect CO₂ costs. The latter, however, is noted to cover only 40 to 50 businesses, leaving the vast majority of the manufacturing sector outside the scheme.