ATHENS – Government spokesperson Yiannis Oikonomou started the press briefing on Thursday with a reference to the two dead from the helicopter crash and expressed his sorrow.

He referred to the goals of the new draft law on education to be voted in parliament later in the day and focused on the issue of energy.

Oikonomou underlined that Greece is always ready. He referred to the concerns from the interruption of NordStream 1 for maintenance work, pointing out that some countries will of course be more affected but the consequences will certainly affect everyone. He cited the words of European Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni that the European Commission is drawing up and will present on July 20 a new plan to deal with the energy crisis, even in the worst case scenario of a complete stoppage of natural gas flows from Russia.

“Our country has been preparing for a long time and is taking every possible measure to deal with even the most extreme scenario”, he emphasised and referred to specific measures provided.

“Our national policies are such that they create a climate of energy stability. The community possibilities that we are pursuing from the first moment will come to be added to the national ones. But we all need to change our energy culture, contributing practically to the reduction of wasted energy”, he explained.