ATHENS – Main opposition SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis that, after spending months resisting the main opposition’s proposals for measures to rein energy prices, he now had the “unbelievable gall” to propose a cap on profit margins in wholesale gas.

“He speaks belatedly of a cap on profits in energy, after a relevant proposal was put forward by the European Commission in the direction sought by SYRIZA – the same person who for so long refused and had allowed an orgy of profiteering and cartels, making Greece a negative European champion for the wholesale price of power,” the announcement said.

From the first moment that power and gas prices skyrocketed, SYRIZA has been asking for measures to regulate the energy market and control power prices by using the Public Power Corporation (PPC), in order to help households and businesses survive, the announcement pointed out. “For six months now, long before the war in Ukraine, Mr. Mitsotakis has refused and mocked SYRIZA’s proposal, speaking of a ‘passing phenomenon’, ‘unrestrained talk of handouts’ and ‘money trees’,” the party added.

It called on Mitsotakis “to stop being the prime minister of excuses” and do the self-evident, including regulation of the energy market to cap power and natural gas rates, reducing the special consumption tax for fuels in line with another 18 EU countries, raising the minimum wage to 800 euros a month and an immediate reduction of VAT for staple foods.