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Speaker 1: Now we're joined exclusively by Kiriako. Smith's attack is the

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Speaker 1: Prime Minister of Greece. Prime Minister, thank you for joining us.

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Speaker 1: I mean it's been quite a week for you, I

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Speaker 1: have to say, and the UK. The Prime Minister of

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Speaker 1: the UK, which is soon I canceled the meeting with you,

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Speaker 1: accused you of grandstanding and rule that allowing some pantheon

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Speaker 1: as sculptures to leave the British Museum. You seem to

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Speaker 1: have a cordial meeting with this opposition.

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Speaker 2: Well, I'm fancying, you know, in the spirit of the

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Speaker 2: longstanding good relations our two countries have and which I

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Speaker 2: certainly tend to preserve. I don't have much to add

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Speaker 2: to this topic, nor do I want to get embroiled

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Speaker 2: in domestic UK politics.

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Speaker 3: I think we've said everything we have to.

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Speaker 2: Say about this issue, and I really don't want to

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Speaker 2: come up more about it.

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Speaker 1: Have you spoken to the Prime Minister. Do you feel

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Speaker 1: like it's now behind you?

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Speaker 3: Well?

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Speaker 2: I would certainly want to leave this unfortunate instant behind me,

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Speaker 2: but it.

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Speaker 3: Always takes two to tangle.

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Speaker 1: Have you spoken to him? Okay, maybe you'll get a

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Speaker 1: call maybe after this interview. Premierster, there's a lot to

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Speaker 1: be done. A cop twenty eight, Are you confident that

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Speaker 1: there's going to be something meaningful instead.

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Speaker 3: Of just talk?

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Speaker 2: Well, this is an important cop, it's a stock taking cop.

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Speaker 2: I think there is a very understandable concern about the

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Speaker 2: track we are on and about the gap between our

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Speaker 2: nationally defined contributions and where we need to get to.

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Speaker 2: And coming from a country which suffered the devastating consequences

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Speaker 2: of the climate crisis this summer, I cannot just but

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Speaker 2: urge everyone to be more ambitious in their goals. Greece

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Speaker 2: has done its own fair share of the heavy lifting.

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Speaker 2: We have reduced our emissions by forty three percent since

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Speaker 2: two thousand and five. That is the fastest reduction of

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Speaker 2: emissions of any European country. Granted we also had an

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Speaker 2: economic crisis to deal with, but we still remain fully

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Speaker 2: committed towards meeting our mitigation targets.

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Speaker 3: But obviously we can do it alone.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you also have growth, which helps if you

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Speaker 1: have money to spend on this. So what kind of

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Speaker 1: advice do you give? I mean, there are leaders here

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Speaker 1: and without maybe given advice. What's the biggest challenge right

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Speaker 1: now to leader that wants to do good, but that

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Speaker 1: can't quite get there.

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Speaker 2: Well, listen, we have to set long term targets a

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Speaker 2: medium term targets. I think decoverronizing our power sector is

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Speaker 2: the obvious way to go in terms of increasing the

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Speaker 2: penetration of renewables. This is something we've done in Greece.

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Speaker 2: We're top ten producer of renewables globally and we intend

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Speaker 2: to continue down that path. But we also need more

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Speaker 2: investments in our grids in order to actually make renewables work.

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Speaker 2: So this will be the number one priority. And then

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Speaker 2: of course you know obvious energy savings, look at our

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Speaker 2: houses and how we can achieve quick wins through positive

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Speaker 2: and PV measures partners, So what do.

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Speaker 1: You worry about the most right here in Europe right now?

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Speaker 1: There was a pretty shocking election in otherlands that not

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Speaker 1: many people are expecting with the far right to win.

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Speaker 1: Does this change also commitments to greening the economy?

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Speaker 3: Well, look, we.

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Speaker 2: Are committed to the Fit for fifty five agenda and

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Speaker 2: the important legislative is that lives have been passed. At

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Speaker 2: the same time, we need to listen to our people

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Speaker 2: and understand that we cannot place more burden.

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Speaker 3: On the less privileged ones.

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Speaker 2: And that is why the total say, rebalancing of our

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Speaker 2: physical approach, making sure that we use a process of

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Speaker 2: growth to support the more vulnerable households is so important

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Speaker 2: in our case, and to make sure that a lot

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Speaker 2: of people can actually tangible benefit from the green transition.

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Speaker 3: For example, in Greece, we have an.

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Speaker 2: Extensive penetration of thermal solar. You just heat our water

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Speaker 2: using the solar energy and it's a very cheap measure

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Speaker 2: that helps reduce electricity bills. So make sure that we

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Speaker 2: focus on those measures where we can actually demonstrate to

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Speaker 2: people that we take care of their concerns and we

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Speaker 2: don't put unnecessary burden on them.

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Speaker 1: But overall, do you worry that there's a tilt, that

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Speaker 1: there's more domestic uncertainty and a lot of big European countries, Yes.

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Speaker 2: And no, But you look at other countries. You look

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Speaker 2: at Poland got Greece for example, reasonable moderate center right

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Speaker 2: You got elected in the sovernment with a strong majority,

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Speaker 2: a very strong mandate to deliver growth, growth rate way

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Speaker 2: higher than the Eurozone average. These are all good signals

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Speaker 2: you can actually run a moderate center right government obtain

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Speaker 2: a large majority as long as you continue to deliver

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Speaker 2: benefits for you for citizens.

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Speaker 3: Do you worry?

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Speaker 1: Prime Minister, I'm talking a lot about worries because it

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Speaker 1: sees that, you know, the economy overall the world is

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Speaker 1: not getting easier to deal with. We talk about on

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Speaker 1: shore and we talk for example about a lot of

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Speaker 1: the green technologies coming back to the US. We talk

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Speaker 1: about the risk between US and China. If you look

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Speaker 1: at these big issues, what do they mean for Europe.

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Speaker 2: Well, Europe has an important role to play in terms

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Speaker 2: of cover note its own agenda regarding its own strategic autonomy.

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Speaker 3: We are leaders in the climate change.

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Speaker 2: But we can't do it alone and certainly we don't

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Speaker 2: want to put European businesses at a disadvantage compared to

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Speaker 2: the US or to China.

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Speaker 3: These businesses.

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Speaker 2: Look at shipping for example, we want to decognize shipping,

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Speaker 2: but shipping is a global industry and we want to

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Speaker 2: make sure that our shipping is not placed in a

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Speaker 2: position where you just have you know, shipowners move their

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Speaker 2: flags to other countries.

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Speaker 3: But so how do you do that?

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Speaker 1: Again, it's extremely difficult if you look at shipping, I

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Speaker 1: mean it takes a huge amount of capital at a

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Speaker 1: time or interest rates are high, to either rebuild or

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Speaker 1: actually repurpose a lot of release shipping.

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Speaker 2: Well, you do it by offering the right incentives and

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Speaker 2: by making sure that you spread up, you know, the

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Speaker 2: burden equally on everyone.

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Speaker 3: Not an easy exercise.

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Speaker 2: You need to use technology and to make sure that

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Speaker 2: we're at the forefront of the technological innovation.

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Speaker 3: But we certainly want to want to. When I get

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Speaker 3: to that.

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Speaker 1: Point, Premnis Greek Greece is actually aiming to be an

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Speaker 1: export of green energy to Central and Southeast Europe as

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Speaker 1: more renewable power comes online. At the same time, you're

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Speaker 1: also looking at hydrocarbon exploration. How do you marry the two.

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Speaker 2: We need based little power, we need natural gas for

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Speaker 2: the foreseeable future, but at the same time, we can

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Speaker 2: significantly expand our green production capacity, which is something we

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Speaker 2: intend to do. We want to be an export of

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Speaker 2: green power in the medium to long term. In the

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Speaker 2: short term, we want to make sure that we cover

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Speaker 2: the requirements of our neighboring countries in terms of offering

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Speaker 2: them access to natural gas, which is something that we

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Speaker 2: do through significant investment in our infrastructure.

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Speaker 1: Do you think you can help them meet some of

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Speaker 1: their priorities?

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Speaker 2: We are doing that already. We're doing that already by

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Speaker 2: covering the needs of Bulgaria. We're exporting gas to Moldova,

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Speaker 2: and we're building the necessary infrastructure to import gas.

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Speaker 3: Into Europe through northern Greece.

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Speaker 2: So we want to be a provider of energy security

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Speaker 2: for many European countries.

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Speaker 1: How long, Prime Minister, will it take for that infrastructure

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Speaker 1: actually to be put in.

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Speaker 2: The FSRU is arriving in Alexandroupoli in a month, so

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Speaker 2: the first infrastructure is already in place.

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Speaker 1: If there's one thing that you think comp leaders need

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Speaker 1: to get right in the next two weeks.

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Speaker 2: What is it to make sure that we ramp up

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Speaker 2: our ambitions. What we're doing is are enough, We're paying

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Speaker 2: the consequences. Uh, and we need to send out a

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Speaker 2: signal of extreme urgency out of out of this meeting.

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Speaker 1: But this is what pledges on methane are there?

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Speaker 2: Methane methane power, power production in the short term, and

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Speaker 2: of course climate financing for those who needed the most, Prime.

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Speaker 1: Minister, thanks so much for joining us. That was Kiriakos Mitsotakis,

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Speaker 1: the Prime Minister of Greece,