Greece‘s opposition to the EU Directive on the taxation of energy, in the context of the green transition, was expressed by the Minister of National Economy and Finance Kyriakos Pierrakakis, in his intervention at today’s ECOFIN meeting in Brussels.
Although the minister acknowledged the need and objectives of the energy transition, he expressed objections and concerns about its costs in three critical sectors of economic activity (aviation, shipping and agriculture) that are of strategic importance for the country and require a targeted and careful tax treatment, calling for extending the country’s exemption from the prescribed increases.
Specifically, in his intervention to his European counterparts, Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis explained the reasons behind Athens’ stance and disagreement, as follows:
“I will start by underlining two points before referring to some of our concerns.
First, we fully share the goals of the energy transition. We, as Greece, are at the forefront of the green transition, with the largest growth in renewable energy sources in Europe, along with significant investments in grids, storage, and clean technologies.
Second, we must all acknowledge that substantial progress has been made in the discussions concerning the Energy Taxation Directive after lengthy negotiations. And we welcome the efforts of both the Presidency and the Commission to promote compromise solutions and areas of convergence.
However, overall, as we move forward with the energy transition, we must focus on a broader strategic narrative and way of thinking, because we are trying to address many issues simultaneously. We have many parallel objectives: we are looking at sustainability, competitiveness, social cohesion, and territorial cohesion.
Our task is to balance all of these and find optimal solutions for every social challenge we face. In this sense, we need to focus on the competitiveness of energy costs, because there are certain Member States that still rely on coal for electricity production, as well as heating oil for their homes and businesses.
Therefore, if we were to implement exactly the same solution with a “one-size-fits-all” approach simultaneously across all 27 Member States, this would not be a recipe for success. And that is why we, as Greece, believe that there are certain areas that are critical both for us and for the European Union as a whole.
I would specifically highlight the sectors of shipping, aviation, and the agricultural economy. In particular, for shipping and aviation, this is a significant issue for us, given our geography, our position on the European map, and the length of our coastlines.
If taxes were imposed on the shipping and aviation sectors, this would create a comparative disadvantage compared to other Mediterranean countries that do not have equivalent taxation. Therefore, we must take this seriously into account. Moreover, given that alternative fuels have not yet been developed at scale in these sectors, we fully support the extension of the ten-year exemption from taxation in these sectors. We would not be willing to discuss any shorter period.
And I would add that, taking the above into consideration, if we do not implement this ten-year exemption, there will be a negative impact overall on the territorial cohesion of the European Union.
Now, regarding the agricultural sector specifically, I would say that we have yet another existential objective: food security. In this sense, while I understand that the exemption timeline for agriculture has already been extended in discussions, we are examining and supporting a permanent exemption from taxation on energy products and electricity used in the agricultural sector, from the same strategic perspective I described earlier,” concluded the Minister.
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