‘The removal of Kimberly Guilfoyle from the US embassy in Athens has brought to the surface what the Mitsotakis government is trying to present as a “national energy strategy”: a vast web of business interests, geopolitical dependencies and rivalries, with American energy companies and domestic oligarchs playing leading roles’, Mera25 stated.

‘The revelations about the former ambassador’s ties to the AKTOR group and oligarch Alexandros Exarchou in promoting the so-called Vertical Gas Corridor reveal the true nature of the plan: Greece is being transformed into a transit hub for extremely expensive American LNG, with business groups set to reap enormous profits while society foots the bill.’

The party also criticised the government’s and the EU’s energy policies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

‘The government and the EU used the war in Ukraine as a pretext to demonise Russian natural gas and sign colonial-style agreements for extremely expensive American LNG. And now Trump himself is buying Russian oil for his country’s needs, while European households sink into poverty and energy deprivation.’

Turning to the consequences of the lignite phase-out in Western Macedonia, Mera25 questioned the government’s claims of pursuing a green and just energy transition.

‘In Greece, the phase-out of lignite was presented as a green policy. But no policy can be green if it relies on fossil fuels. How “green” is a transition that replaces domestically produced lignite with imported fossil natural gas? And how “just” is it when there is no plan to create new jobs for those who will be left unemployed, bringing economic devastation to the whole of Western Macedonia?’

The party argued that the planned closure of the Ptolemaida 5 plant, without alternative employment opportunities, and the development of the Vertical Corridor were interconnected elements of a policy that entrenches dependence on natural gas and benefits powerful business interests.

‘Guilfoyle’s removal may change the faces, but not the substance of this policy’, it stressed.

Mera25 United Left set out four demands:

  • A genuinely just energy transition plan that ends dependence on all fossil fuels.
  • Full disclosure of energy agreements with the US and a shift away from the fossil-fuel extraction axis.
  • The creation of equivalent employment opportunities for workers affected by the transition, alongside a substantial public programme for the productive reconstruction of Western Macedonia.
  • Public and social control of energy, with investment in renewable energy, storage infrastructure and energy communities instead of new long-term dependence on fossil fuels.

‘Energy is a social good, not the spoils of oligarchs or an instrument of American foreign policy. The country needs energy democracy, not new protectors and new dependencies’, the party concluded.

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