“We will have geostrategic and financial benefits”
“The agreements signed the previous two days are a great national success and help to strengthen the position of Greece economically and geostrategically. I am sure that in the next period we will see other agreements to strengthen the position of Greece and in relation to our contacts with the United States. We will move forward with other moves that will bring the two countries even closer.”
This is what the deputy prime minister said today Kostis Hatzidakis in an interview with ERT regarding the contacts and agreements signed in Athens within the framework of the intergovernmental cooperation on energy (P-Tec), in the presence of the ministers of the interior and energy of the United States as well as ministers of energy from the wider region.
K. Hatzidakis pointed out that the profit from these agreements is multi-level: “First of all, it was demonstrated that the level of Greek-American relations is very high. Secondly, the country’s geostrategic position in the Balkans and the wider region is strengthened. Third, Greece becomes the gateway for American gas to the countries of Southeast, Eastern and Central Europe. And fourthly, apart from that there were also the agreements with ExxonMobil and the Greek companies for hydrocarbon research in the Ionian which are not of theoretical value because they are scheduled to take place in 18 months – two years from now”, Mr. Hatzidakis emphasized and added the following:
“While until now Greece was the destination of Russian natural gas exports to Europe, now it is becoming the gateway for the import of American natural gas to these countries. While until now there was talk that Russian natural gas – which is finally being abandoned by Europe – would enter Europe via Turkey, now Greece is coming and playing that role. While until now it was questionable whether we could do hydrocarbon extraction south of Crete due to the infamous void Turko-Libyan memorandum, Chevron came and signed an agreement with Greece to do mining effectively canceling the memorandum. And at the same time comes the other big company, the American Exxon, which anyway also has contracts southwest of Crete and is moving on to something much more practical and much faster, in relation to the exploration of hydrocarbons in the Ionian. If it turns out that there are indeed exploitable deposits there, experts say that they will begin to be really exploited around 2030. So not in a distant horizon. And this has not only geostrategic but also economic significance. Because any discovery of hydrocarbons will naturally strengthen the country’s economy and improve the trade balance in relation to natural gas imports.”
Asked about the possibility of abandoning the “green transition” in energy, the deputy prime minister pointed out that one (hydrocarbons) does not exclude the other. “We are interested in having as clean energy as possible, but from the beginning we said that whatever developments exist with green energy, and there are obviously and will continue, natural gas will be a transitional fuel for some decades and it would be extremely useful for Greece to be present in this field,” he emphasized.
He also reminded that with the moves that have been made, we reached 50% of the electricity produced from renewable sources and we also reached after many years, mainly due to RES, Greece becoming a net exporter of energy.
Mr. Hatzidakis also pointed out that the agreements with the US were reached despite criticism that the Mitsotakis government has slowed down in foreign policy recently, or that Greece does not have good relations with the US and especially with the Trump administration. For all this there was a response in the field, he said characteristically, recalling the moves that preceded such as the delimitation of the EEZ with Italy and Egypt, the armaments, the maritime spatial planning and the ecological parks that went ahead despite Turkey’s reaction.
When asked about the developments with OPEKEPE, he expressed his optimism that the action plan for the IACS, i.e. the system in relation to the calculation of the number of animals, the geospatial and controls, which was submitted to the European Commission last week, will be approved. “We know what the European Commission’s requirements are. We have informally discussed with them and we are determined to do whatever it takes to move to the next phase,” he said.
Mr. Hatzidakis expressed the hope that the payments, which in previous years were made by the end of October, will be made by the end of November. He reminded that the applications this year were submitted until October 20, while at the same time we had the transition from OPEKEPE to SDOE and the controls by European bodies such as OLAF and the Financial Police which caused delays. “This year the subsidies will be paid with a hybrid system and this is accepted by the European Commission. We will go with evidence, that is, how much meat and how much milk the farmer delivered and how much feed he bought, so that the subsidies go to the actual producers. From 2026 we will have a completely modern and European system, the animals will be counted with a “chip”, as is done in other European countries, so that there is an accurate record”.
“With the new presumptions that will be applied, money will be left over,” noted the deputy prime minister. “So there will be redistribution through the so-called coupled aid and ecological schemes, in order to ultimately help the real farmers and breeders. Those who pretended to have a large number of animals will obviously get smaller subsidies and the real farmers will win. But that’s fair. And so, here we are not only dealing with a change to be okay with Brussels. It is also a reform which will also have a sign of social justice”, he underlined.
Finally, regarding the events in Vorizia, Mr. Hatzidakis said: “What happened in Vorizia does not characterize Crete. It is of great importance that everyone, not only the State with what Mr. Chrysochoidis announced yesterday, but above all the society, all of us Cretans, take on the burden that belongs to us. There are many people in Crete who have been working in this direction for the last few years. For example, there are some well-known lyre players who in recent decades have made it clear that they will not play at a wedding if they start patchwork. And I think that in addition to the police, we should also see at the school what can be done. We were all really shocked because what happened, even with the data of the negative tradition, had an extreme character.”