Subordination of Greek political and energy autonomy to Putin’s Gasprom

Liberal Alliance press release 05 May 08

Liberal Alliance (Greek Liberals) submits its reservations for the new deal by Karamanlis-Putin in the energy sector. According to Greek Prime Minister’s statements to the ITAR-TASS news agent “Greece will be consuming 7 billion cubic meters of Natural Gas by the end of 2015 and the 80% of this amount will be provided by Russia“.

If Mr. Karamanalis’ statement comes true, then Greece will be almost wholly dependent for its Natural Gas to Russia and especially to one company, Gazprom. This dependency for which Mr. Karamanlis is so proud cannot be considered a positive development as it will lead to a monopoly in Natural Gas supply, therefore the apparent lack of free market and competition will add another burden to the cost of Greek's everyday life.

In addition to the negative results for the cost of living for Greek households, the reliance to Russia in such a strategic sector as energy will have diplomatic consequences as it will diminish Greek bargaining power in case there is need to go against Russian interests. Liberal Alliance reminds to the case of “Ukraine New year 2006” when Russia shut the Gas supply because Ukraine refused to pay an increase in gas prices, from $50 to $230 per cubic meter. This rise, was a result of western oriented “Orange Revolution” whereas the dictatorial government of Belarus who is a loyal ally of Moscow had no similar problem. The interruption of gas supply was highly perceptible by countries that are more dependent in energy to Russia than Greece.

The silence by the parliamentary opposition in this matter can be traced to the anti-American culture, which every Greek parliamentary party has. But Liberal Alliance contents that it goes deeper than this. It is a nostalgic by certain leftist parties to the Soviet era, and they believe the rise of Putin’s totalitarianism will roll back Greek politics to a soviet state control and will distance Greek from the western liberal democracy. Is this what Greeks wish? If that is the case, then the road to serfdom is free…

Liberal Alliance supports the Liberal democracy and wishes the highest possible dissemination of Energy suppliers, giving priority to the exploitation of renewable energy sources and the research of the use of nuclear energy.