“No comment,” comes the laconic response from Maximos Mansion regarding the interview of Antonis Samaras (on ANT1), who attempted a complete deconstruction of the government on a series of fronts and issues, while leaving wide open the possibility of creating a new party, deferring his relevant decisions to the future. The response, however, will be given today at noon during the briefing of political editors by Pavlos Marinakis and specifically on the issue of foreign and energy policy will “build upon” the triple development of recent days. “What we experienced in Athens was a resounding confirmation of our homeland’s central role in the international energy scene,” noted Kyriakos Mitsotakis characteristically in his customary Sunday Facebook post.
ExxonMobil, America’s largest energy company, came to Athens and signed an agreement to acquire 60% of the concession in Block 2, in the maritime area in the northwestern Ionian Sea and invest approximately $80 million so that in cooperation with Energean and HelleniQ Energy, exploratory drilling can proceed in late 2026 or early 2027 – the first exploratory drilling in Greece since 1986. The second development is the now tangible strong investment and political interest from Washington for the so-called Vertical Corridor, through which natural gas will reach from Alexandroupolis to Odessa – bypassing the Bosphorus straits – with the natural gas transmission pipeline from Greece to Bulgaria and then Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova and Ukraine. The third development came from Israel’s Energy Minister Eli Cohen, who stated after the meeting of Energy Ministers from Greece, Cyprus, the US and Israel (3+1 format) in Athens, that “very significant progress has been made regarding the possibility of constructing a natural gas pipeline. This is an idea that had been discussed in the past and now returns to the spotlight. The Americans are now willing to take on a significant role,” bringing back to the forefront the almost forgotten East Med pipeline or some similar project.
Antonis Samaras: Gerapetriti’s responses and the next day
In any case, for the sharp remarks the former prime minister made about Greek-Turkish relations and relations with Libya, Giorgos Gerapetriti had essentially already “responded,” who with his article in Sunday’s Vima set the basic framework within which Greek foreign policy operates today. The so-called calm waters policy with Turkey, which has been in Mr. Samaras’ crosshairs since last year (as well as Kostas Karamanlis’), as the Foreign Minister explained, has led to minimization of national airspace violations, a major reduction in eastward migration flows, a clear strengthening of bilateral trade, an upgrade of tourism from Turkey to Greek islands through the fast visa process that the Foreign Ministry secured from the European Commission.
Regarding Libya, Mr. Gerapetriti emphasized that “Greece is the only European country that maintains open channels with both sides in the country, following our contacts in Tripoli and Benghazi with the leaderships of both sides.” The result, as he pointed out, “is that migration flows from Libya have been crucially limited, Libya’s proclamation of plots respects our median line, and technical committees for the delimitation of the EEZ between the two countries have been activated, which unfortunately had been inglorious interrupted in 2010, with the known consequences.”
Regarding Mr. Samaras’ rhetoric about patriotism – which from his perspective has now also been adopted by Alexis Tsipras – Mr. Mitsotakis had already positioned himself in his Facebook post as follows: “All these developments and investments are not numbers on paper. They translate into thousands of new, well-paid jobs for our fellow citizens, better wages, development for local communities, better energy prices for households and businesses. Into new national wealth that will support younger generations. This is modern and responsible patriotism.”
From New Democracy, parliamentary spokesperson Makarios Lazaridis chose to respond shortly after the broadcast of Mr. Samaras’ interview, speaking of “the same worn-out arguments, in the same familiar and tiresome way” from the former prime minister, whom he accused that “unfortunately he decided once again to turn obsessively and unjustifiably against New Democracy and Kyriakos Mitsotakis, even reaching personal attacks against him. Unfortunately, we heard no new idea, no vision, no proposal for how the country can move forward. The only political force that has a plan, stability and ability to provide solutions to the real problems of Greeks is New Democracy, under the leadership of Kyriakos Mitsotakis,” Mr. Lazaridis noted in his post.
