“There is no dilemma between green and cheap energy. On the contrary, nowadays green energy is much cheaper than the energy produced from fossil fuels. “Our goal to completely phase out lignite by 2028 and our pursuit to achieve that even earlier does not contradict our effort to have cheaper energy for our consumers”, underlined Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs, Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, addressing a conference organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the European Public Law Organization (EPLO), in the framework of the Conference on the Future of Europe, themed “Towards COP26: Challenges for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in the EU”.
Mr. Varvitsiotis noted that the international community has been slow to address the climate change that is already here and that especially in the Mediterranean we are experiencing its consequences much harder. He added that the climate crisis has now turned into an economic issue, as 200 million people in the Mediterranean are at risk of losing their livelihood and being forced to emigrate. In this context, he praised Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ commitments to the goals of turning 30% of the Mediterranean into a Marine Protected Area by 2030 and up to then not allowing fishing in 10% of our seas. He also referred to the Athens Declaration of the EUMed group on the protection of the Mediterranean environment.
The Alternate Minister emphasized that “geopolitics, energy and a clean planet are inextricably linked”, stressing the need for Europe to diversify its energy supply sources. In this context, he underlined the importance of the Eastmed pipeline for the immediate exploitation of deposits in the Eastern Mediterranean, as natural gas has been selected as a transitional fuel towards ending our dependence on fossil fuels.
Mr. Varvitsiotis also emphasized the importance of the agreement with Egypt for the construction of a submarine cable for the transfer of green energy to Europe, a fact that presupposes the delimitation of the EEZs of Greece and Egypt. “In the past, we have experienced several tensions over energy issues and this is something we do not want to see again,” he said. “What we want is broad cooperation to meet the enormous challenge of keeping the planet clean and healthy”.
Concluding, Mr. Varvitsiotis addressed young people, saying that the ambitious European targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions are reaching the younger generation, giving them the prospect of living on a cleaner and healthier planet. “I hope that our effort to reach these targets will bridge the generation gap we experienced in the economic crisis and we will move forward together as a society,” the Alternate Minister concluded.
It is noted that Mr. Varvitsiotis’ counterpart and Minister for European Affairs and Ownership Steering of Finland, Tytti Tuppurainen, and the British Ambassador to Greece, Matthew Lodge, addressed the conference via video-taped messages, while the Director of EPLO Institute for Sustainable Development and former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Spyros Kouvelis and Mirey Atallah, Deputy Director of the Ecosystems Division of the UN Environment Programme also participated in the panel discussion.