Greek PM Mitsotakis inaugurates first OT Forum with live and wide-ranging Q&A session

Among others, Mitsotakis’ replies, in a quick format, included:

–          We want to reduce dependence on Russian natural gas; we want to inaugurate electricity supply from Egypt and import hydrogen from Saudi Arabia

–          We never expected 30 months ago that we’d have to manage successive crises; Russia, which started war, is the ‘big loser’; we’ll lose 500,000 Russian tourists, but this is manageable

–           Defense spending over a certain point shouldn’t be calculated in the EU stability pact criteria; we contribute to European defense

–          We won’t change Greece’s election law ahead of coming general elections: regarding achievement of investment grade rating for Greece: this is an absolutely realistic goal, we’ve already seen upgrades, and we have a ‘cushion’ of 40 bln€

–          we’ve already implemented 80 percent of the tax reductions we promised prior to 2019 election; won’t risk country’s growth dynamism, social cohesion Greece

–          Understand that a large minority of Greeks, based on opinion poll results, express “understanding” for Russia’s annoyance with Ukraine, but won’t steer policy based on polls; there’s a concert for peace in central Athens, nearby, today, hope to see Ukrainian flags there