ATHENS – The government’s “top priority, since it was elected in office in 2019, is to secure Greece’s energy sufficiency and independency,” stressed Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in a statement to Real News newspaper on Saturday.

To that effect, the premier added, “utmost emphasis is paid on ‘greening’ national energy policy with RES that are abundant in our country.”

At the same time, Mitsotakis pointed out, “we are responding -and adapting- to the current situation, and have been fighting against the onset of the global energy crisis, to mitigate its impact on household and business energy tariffs. We are exhausting all budget margins, and since last September we are converting into discounts all the resulting revenues in RES markets and pollution auctions. To date, some 4 billion euros has been given in horizontal and targeted aid to the most vulnerable.”

He also reiterated that “the government has supported and will continue to support energy consumers through a scheme of subsidies. I have said that in the absence of a European response to this problem, the government is ready to take significant additional steps to absorb as much of the increase in electricity bills as is possible.”

Furthermore, he added that “I will announce a package in May, and even if it is not adopted at the European Council meeting, it will take effect in June. We are exhausting the full range of possibilities that the state budget allows us to support our fellow citizens. This is what we have been doing since the beginning of the crisis – and this is what we will continue to do.