ΣΤΟΝ ΔΗΜΟΣΙΟΓΡΑΦΟ ΕΥΘΥΜΙΟ ΤΣΙΛΙΟΠΟΥΛΟ
ΠΑΡΑΣΚΕΥΗ 26 ΙΟΥΝΙΟΥ 2009
JOURNALIST: Well, the issue of energy and energy sources of course is something that is holding the whole planet’s breath. And one of the things that people are looking for is renewable energy resources. One of these renewable energy resources that our country is rich in is wind and solar power.
On the line is Deputy for PASOK, Mr. Spyros Kouvelis, who has been looking into the subject and has been looking in fact into recent measures for wind power and other related renewable energy sources from the relevant ministry.
Good morning, sir. Thank you for joining us.
MR. S. KOUVELIS: Good morning. Thank you very much.
JOURNALIST: Now, you have been looking into what the ministry has been saying. You have noted certain should I say irregularities. What are they?
MR. S. KOUVELIS: Well, I’d rather put it as discrepancies between what we hear from the ministry as their objective for renewable energy sources and what we see actually being done to the energy mix for this country.
There is one thing. That is that we had quite a bold announcement lately from the Ministry of Development saying that a) they would totally discontinue any thought about putting coal into the energy mix of Greece. They have also said that they do not want to even discuss nuclear power in Greece and that they would take bold measures to support the development of renewables, especially for photovoltaic solar energy and wind energy.
Now, the thing that actually made us question what is going on is that the National Council for Energy Planning for Greece has recently circulated a questionnaire in which we see that again the issue of coal and nuclear power is being put into discussion and they are actually asking very targeted local authorities, something like ten prefectures and ten municipalities, whether they would accept, let’s say, coal and nuclear power as alternative sources of energy for energy security in Greece, and also whether they are in agreement with the targets set by the European Union for energy purposes.
Now, for us these are things that, anyway for PASOK, are out of the question. We are not discussing coal and nuclear energy. And of course we are supporting the targets set by the European Union.
But also we were expecting that the government has closed this discussion for all. And it was very alarming for us to see that this issue is being reopened, in the sense of scientific, I have to say, research they are doing. But why this question is now.
JOURNALIST: Well, you make an interesting case here. Now, you are obviously against nuclear energy, but it seems that the European Union is moving further along towards it. Why is PASOK against nuclear energy in Greece?
MR. S. KOUVELIS: First of all, we are not against nuclear energy in places other than Greece. I mean some countries may have good reasons to develop nuclear energy, although I personally believe that there are always better alternatives, safer alternatives, if you want.
But for Greece what we have said repeatedly is that Greece does not need nuclear energy. And that is because Greece has such a strong potential from renewables. You know that Greece could come up easily to 30-40, even more per cent of its energy needs, electricity needs I mean, from renewables.
And on the other side, if you want to really develop nuclear energy in Greece this is something that would require immense quantities of time and funds. To develop something that can be the beginning of a nuclear power plant, just for the permitting purposes you would need more than ten years.
Now, if you add about 15 years for the construction, we are talking 25 years down the line. I am sure that in this same time, if we do move properly with the renewables we can have much more energy produced by sun and wind, and much safer, obviously.
JOURNALIST: Are you going to do anything to denounce the plans of the ministry or this, let’s say, questionnaire or research?
MR. S. KOUVELIS: What we did yesterday is that we put a formal question in Parliament and sent it towards the Ministry of Energy, the Minister of Development in Greece, about why this questionnaire is being circulated now and why these issues about nuclear energy and coal re-emerge, and whether we could also doubt the agreements with the European Union.
And we also say one thing that I consider very important, whether these moves, just a few months before the summit meeting in Copenhagen where very, very critical questions will be discussed about climate change, whether such a direction about again putting coal into our discussion, either I think they do in preparation for the meeting in Copenhagen.
Now, this is a question that has been signed by 42 of my colleagues in PASOK, 42 Parliament members, and we expect the ministry to come out with a satisfactory reply that coal and nuclear energy are once and for all put out of the discussion for the energy mix in Greece.
JOURNALIST: Has the relevant minister set a date for his reply yet, or are you expecting it soon?
MR. S. KOUVELIS: According to the regulations of Parliament, this is something that should not come later than 20 days from the day of tabling the question, so we expect that sometime in July we will have a reply. And according to what this reply will be, then we will see what else we will do, because if the reply is satisfactory and we see that this was done only for scientific purposes, that’s one thing. But we want a very clear political statement, otherwise we will be sure that the ministry says one thing but does another.
JOURNALIST: Thank you very much, Mr. Kouvelis, for joining us.
MR. S. KOUVELIS: Thank you very much. Have a nice day.
JOURNALIST: You too, sir. And that was Deputy for PASOK, Spyros Kouvelis.
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