Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis urged European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to unlock investment in gas infrastructure, and to limit the costs of “overregulation of emissions” citing high and unequal power prices.
Mitsotakis wrote on Tuesday to von der Leyen, his colleague in the centre-right European People’s Party, ringing the alarm bell about high energy prices.
While the letter, seen by Euractiv, contains familiar suggestions to address high power prices – such as more interconnections and a European approach to grid planning – Mitsotakis goes even further.
Acknowledging that “we are rightly focused on a world where gas will play a smaller role” Mitsotakis notes that “we will depend on gas for at least two decades” and calls for European companies to be “empowered” to invest in gas projects and infrastructure.
The Greek also touts the importance of contracts that “guarantee European access” to global gas supplies.
On climate goals, Mitsotakis suggests that individual EU countries should have the discretion to choose their own targets.
This would be a watering down of current EU law, which sets for each country a specific emission reduction target covering sectors such as transport, buildings and agriculture, which collectively account for 60% of domestic EU emissions.
[Edited by Owen Morgan]
We give you energy news and help invest in energy projects too, click here to learn more
Crude Oil, LNG, Jet Fuel price quote
ENB Top News
ENB
Energy Dashboard
ENB Podcast
ENB Substack
Energy News Beat