Strong reactions were provoked by the placements of Pavlos Polakis on the “robbery” of people’s income through energy prices.
The minister Environment and Energy Stavros Papastavrou and Deputy Minister Nikos Tsafos responded in high tones, rejecting the accusations.
Mr. Polakis referred to “one of the biggest transfers of wealth” by the New Democracy government, while launching a personal attack on Mr. Tsafos, calling for his resignation and accusing him of undermining energy security.
The response of Mr. Papastavrou was immediate, with the minister referring to “contradictory and hypocritical positions”of SYRIZA, especially on issues related to public property and energy policy.
“In 2011, there was a key demand of the creditors: to transfer all public property to a fund under their control. George Papandreou said “no”. Antonis Samaras and Evangelos Venizelos also said “no”. What did Alexis Tsipras do? He said “yes”.
And today you are talking about protecting public property. You agreed on the Hyperfund, on overtaxation, on the closure of banks. And now Mr Tsipras says that he would repeat such choices,” Papastavrou said, addressing Mr Polakis:
“Mr Polakis referred to agreements ‘behind closed doors’. You are well aware of these practices. You signed the Prespa Agreement, which binds future generations and, in our view, distorts historical facts. This is something that has caused strong reactions, especially in Northern Greece, and this will always accompany you.”
For his part, Tsafos rejected accusations that Greece has the most expensive electricity price compared to the EU. He argued that “the ND government received a wholesale price that was in the red, when all of Europe was in the green.”
“It was the highest wholesale price in all of Europe. Greece 64, Germany 38. Seventy percent up. This is not a cartel,” he pointed out, prompting a new reaction from Polakis.
The controversy continued with Polakis accusing the deputy energy minister of “executing contracts normally.”
“The retail price, first half of 2025, minus 21 percent from the European average, Greece. In purchasing power terms, it’s just below the European average. Yes, there is volatility within the day. That’s how the target model and the energy exchange traditionally works. It’s marginal pricing. It’s only in electricity. In oil, somebody who produces 10 euros a barrel, sells it for 10 euros a barrel. It’s nothing strange,” he said, adding:
“The bottom line is what price I have in the middle, because that is what is passed on to the consumer. And what I’m telling you: plus 70% from Germany in 2019, this year cheaper than Germany. Seventh cheapest wholesale in all of Europe.”
Finally, responding to accusations about the closure of all lignite plants including the modern unit 5 in Ptolemaida, he accused SYRIZA that while he is protesting today, when he was in government he let the use of lignite fall by 50%, reaching 20%.”
“In 2019 we imported almost a fifth of our needs. So, the national fuel, which you guys were championing when you were in government, was collapsing. And it was being replaced not by renewables, which you ideologically want to replace, but by imports, because renewables were not built,” he said, citing a number of countries, including Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Malta, Portugal and Sweden, which have reduced lignite by 100%.
Finally, Chafos said that the Ptolemaida 5 lignite plant is not competitive and cannot enter the system on market terms.”
“So, whoever says ‘I want Ptolemaida 5’ is implicitly saying that I want us to pay more for electricity to have Ptolemaida 5. This implies “I want lignite.”
To keep the lignite, someone has to pay for it. Because it is not competitive, we have to find another way to pay for it. That is the dilemma a country has to face. Since lignite is not competitive, we will somehow have to pay more than what we currently pay to have lignite.
We clearly see the country’s energy future as being based on renewables. It is renewables that have taken us from the most expensive wholesale in Europe to the 7th cheapest wholesale in Europe. We are framing renewables with storage, with batteries, with pumped storage and of course with gas plants and with exports.
This is the energy future of the country and this is what has shielded us today in a crisis from rising prices and it is this mix that allows us to have lower prices today, 21% lower for households.”
