A. Skertsos: It raises the question why SYRIZA insists on lignite

Responding to the opposition criticism on the energy crisis, the Minister of State A. Skertsos gives an article in liberal.gr, in which he explains the government’s initiative at the highest European level for a direct and temporary intervention in the wholesale gas prices that have exceeded – has increased tenfold in the last period due to the Russian invasion, which according to Mr. Scherzo is a pretext for a speculative price spike.

The Minister of State specifically says: “…. a few words about some convenient myths that circulate with particular ease for the sake of populism. The national lignite resource is a ‘dirty’ and expensive fuel that would not drop final consumer prices even today to It’s therefore questionable why SYRIZA insists on lignite and not, for example, the much cheaper RES now, but also why it allowed from 2015 to 2019 to reduce lignite production in our country by 50% or almost 10Twh. Let’s answer these questions.

As for the reduction of special fuel taxes that other parties, including KINAL, more casually demand, the truth is this: indeed fuel taxes are high in our country, but this is because it fills a large gap in its public revenues. order of 5-6 billion euros that finance critical public goods, hospitals, schools, security, etc.

A reduction in fuel taxation would lead to external borrowing to cover the revenue hole, ie a debt increase for all citizens, while the benefit of a reduction in the final fuel price would be marginal for the economically vulnerable and much greater for the richer . “Overall, it would be an imperfect policy with a lot of unpleasant side effects.”