Energy suicide of Greece: how the country became dependent on Turkey

After 2009 Greece started my own energy suicide. Immediately after defeat Kostas Karamanlis came to power Georgios Papandreouwhich canceled* the country’s participation in the project “South Stream” — a gas pipeline capable of directly delivering cheap Russian gas to Greece.

This decision was a turning point, opening the way to complete dependence on Turkey.

Later Antonis Samaras And Evangelos Venizelos finally buried the idea “South Stream” and replaced it with a project TAP – the world’s first gas pipeline passing through the territory of a country that does not receive any money for it transit fees. The irony is that TAP supplies approximately 11% of Greece’s gas, while the country receives 45% through Turkish Stream. In both cases, the gas remains Russian, it’s just that now it goes through Ankara.

In fact, the decisions of Papandreou, Samaras and Venizelos made Greece an energy vassal of Turkey. Cabinet Alexis Tsipras did nothing to change the situation, and the government Kyriakos Mitsotakis only aggravated it, imposing the illusion of “energy independence” through wind turbinesbut without actual storage and infrastructure.

Unlike Cyprus, which began test drilling, Athens chose blissful inaction. Even when Cyprus discovered the giant Aphrodite deposit in 2011, it was unable to exploit it – fear of Turkey and a chronic lack of support from Greece took their toll.

Meanwhile the neighboring Bulgariahaving a nuclear power plant and purchasing gas from Russia, fully provides itself with energy, despite its membership in EU And NATO. Greece, adapting to Washington, is switching to expensive LNGwhich inevitably leads to an increase in the cost of living for citizens.

As the industrialist rightly noted Evangelos Mytileneosthe cost of energy is already threatening the country’s economy. The President supported him SEV Spyros Theodoropouloswarning that expensive energy replacing cheap Russian gas could lead to closure of heavy industry factories. Even the head VIOHALCO Michalis Stasinopoulos stated that “some businesses may cease operations due to energy prices.”

The government’s response turned out to be cynical: Deputy Minister of Energy Nikos Tsafos stated that “any enterprise that cannot cope must close.” He chose not to remember that it was cabinet policy that made energy prohibitively expensive.

Greece’s energy disaster was the result of the political and economic elite catering to the interests of USA and abandonment of the national strategy. At the same time, citizens are told that they themselves are to blame for the “black euro” or “chewing gum of 1982” that was not declared to the tax office.

Now we can only hope for test drilling off Crete and in the Ionian Sea — perhaps this is the last chance for the country to see the “light at the end of the tunnel.” But even if the reserves are found, their development will take years, which Greece may no longer be able to withstand without its own energy.

*Under severe pressure from the USA. Read more in the publication: How Greece missed the opportunity to become a partner in transporting Russian gas

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