He pointed out that the United States is a major energy exporter and Europe is a major energy importer so the scope for their cooperation is extensive, stressing that the deals that have and will be signed over the two days of the P-TEC Summit "indicate that there is significant substance behind this partnership that we are currently building." Mitsotakis also noted, however, that this was not a partnership based solely on commercial transactions but an "enduring bond based on a similar set of strategic objectives".
"We both, Greece and the United States, have a primary responsibility as governments to deliver affordable energy to our citizens and our businesses. We both want to secure energy sources and critical raw materials that are free of geopolitical baggage. We want vibrant industries, we want fair competition, we want to unleash innovation, we want to develop new technologies and, of course, we do want to reduce emissions, each in our own ways," he added.
He also emphasised that over the last six years, Greece "has charted its own course when it comes to energy. At the beginning of my first term, in 2019, we made a strategic decision to shift away from lignite, which used to provide 60% of our electricity. This was not just driven by environmental concerns, it was driven by economics. In our case, lignite was simply too expensive for us. Instead, we did invest in renewables, taking advantage of our superior solar and wind resources."
As a result of these investments, the prime minister added, renewables now meet more than 50% of Greece's electricity needs, while he highlighted the fact that in 2024, Greece for the first time became a net electricity exporter. "Think how important this is: in 2023 we spent 575 million euros importing electricity; last year we earned 122 million euros by exporting it. In other words, in just one year we witnessed a shift of 700 million euros, generating electricity from our own resources to lower costs and improve our trade balance," he stressed.
"Meanwhile, we also invested heavily in natural gas to ensure that we have and will have for the foreseeable future predictable baseload power. We have already commissioned two ultra modern gas plants, one more is under construction, several more are being planned and, these days, these gas plants provide the flexibility needed, not just for Greece but for the entire region of Southeast Europe," Mitsotakis emphasised.
In addition, he added, Greece is also investing in its electricity grids, with this investment increasing from 400 million euros in 2019 to 1.5 billion last year, and was currently midway through a "generational six-billion-euro project to connect all our islands to the mainland grid." Noting that this makes "so much sense to us economically, environmentally and in terms of reliability," he noted that Greece's largest island Crete was also recently interconnected to the mainland and "this is saving us a lot of money."
Alongside developing its grids, Greece was also investing in energy storage, Mitsotakis continued, using batteries and pumped hydro in order to develop "the maximum flexibility possible" and was also striving to be on the frontline of new technologies, especially carbon capture, storage and hydrogen. Also, as a stable provider of low-cost energy, Greece was attracting significant investment in data centres, he added.
"This is a multi-layered transformation that explores all opportunities. Since coming into office and especially since 2022, we have supercharged our exploration programme for hydrocarbons," Mitsotakis emphasised, congratulating Environment and Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou for his work, which has culminated in the signing of an agreement between Exxon Mobil, Helleniq Energy and Energean to begin exploratory drilling.
"Why is this important...we are on track to have the first exploration well drilled in Greece in 40 years!" Mitsotakis said, adding: "We are doing the sensible thing. We are exploring our own areas because we know that Europe will need natural gas for many, many years to come. After all, we have made a strategic bet on natural gas and, step by step, we have built a web of assets to strengthen not just Greek but regional gas security."
Listing the many and various critical energy infrastructure projects presented at the Summit, from the TAP to the interconnector with Bulgaria, Mitsotakis concluded: "We have become a provider of energy security for the entire southeastern European region and, as a result of all these investments, we have become a major transit country for natural gas."
Just a few years earlier, the prime minister pointed out, Greece was just a destination for gas and a "footnote" for the energy market in Europe, importing small quantities for its own needs and exporting almost nothing. In 2024, that picture was entirely changed, he said, with the greater part of the gas arriving in Greece being sent on to third countries.
"We will continue to invest in our gas infrastructure in Greece, in order to play this important regional role," he added, welcoming steps taken at the conference to use Greece as a gateway for US gas and "make this vision a concrete reality".
Referring to the decision taken to phase out Russian gas, with Southeastern Europe being the last corner of Europe that still imported Russian pipeline gas, Mitsotakis said the ban presents an opportunity to completely redraw the region's energy map. He stressed that the ban must be enforced and, in a message to his European counterparts, emphasised that "we cannot have Russian gas getting into Europe through the backdoor via Turkiye".
"So, we stand absolutely ready to assist in this effort through the Vertical Corridor, with American LNG coming to Greece and then north towards Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Hungary and Slovakia. Let me repeat it: Greece is the natural entry point for US LNG to replace Russian gas in the region," he said.
Summarising, Mitsotakis noted that Greece's energy policy was focused on developing the country's own resources, building its own infrastructure and on helping its neighbours and playing a leadership role in the Balkans and Southeastern Europe.
Wrapping up his speech, the prime minister turned to the topic of European energy strategy, which was recently discussed at the European Council.
"My approach when it comes to the energy transition is clear. We need an energy transition that is cost effective. Today, the number one issue facing our citizens is inflation, so we cannot keep asking our citizens to pay an ever-increasing cost for energy. It is important to focus on those resources and those thechnologies that are cost competitive, moving at the right time to sectors that are harder to decarbonise, such as shipping. In this regard, we very much welcome the course correction which we witnessed at the European level, pushing back ETS2 by a year, as well as adding the obviously required greater flexibility to meet our 2040 targets," Mitsotakis emphasised.
He noted, however, that going forward "we must be ruthlessly technologically neutral" and that it was up to the markets to "pick winners" and "lead the innovation push forward". "We can make strategic bets on technologies where Europe still has a significant, competitive advantage and we should certainly do that. Within Europe, we should certainly strive to complete the internal energy market. The price disparities that we unfortunately still see across Europe are unjust but they are also economically wasteful. Most importantly, they are politically unsustainable, so we need to do better to create a true single European market that will benefit all European citizens," he added.
Lastly, Mitsotakis highlighted the need to put energy policy within a broader strategic framework, ensuring not only energy security but also employment, social cohesion, security of supply, industrial vibrancy and strategic autonomy.
"Now, more than ever, energy is essentially intertwined with geopolitics and geo-economics and this is why this meeting has been so important, because it translates what is essentially a strategic vision into a business reality," the prime minister concluded, while adding that it also symbolises "the enduring bonds between Greece and the United States" and was evidence that this relationship is getting stronger and deeper every year.
(ANA-MPA, November 7, 2025)