He sent a message to Brussels about changing his “punitive” policy on energy-intensive industries in an interview with CNBC ahead of the EU statements. March 14 on measures – a response to US protectionist policies, o Evangelos Mytileneoshead of Mytilineos – Energy & Metals and chairman of Eurometaux.

Asked about Europe’s reaction to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in an interview with Squawk Box, Mr Mytileneos reiterated his view of the lack of institutional support at the EU level. energy-intensive industry and talked about completely different approaches. “The US government is giving companies the carrot to go green, invest in green, and so on. On the contrary, the European authorities act punitively if you continue your old practice. So, on the one hand, we have a gift from the government, and on the other hand, we have a fine for companies, and, of course, companies prefer a gift from the US government to a fine from the European authorities. This is essentially the difference between the IRA and Europe’s actions so far,” he said, promising that as chairman of Eurometaux he would continue to fight to protect Europe’s energy-intensive industry. A U.S. law passed last August providing $369 billion in energy and climate investment subsidies went into effect on January 1, 2023, causing serious competition problems for European businesses. According to Bloomberg, many multinational corporations are reviewing their plans and are wondering if they should invest new money in Europe. Mr Mytileneos did not rule out that many European companies are considering moving to the US to take advantage of IRA subsidies.

In his interview, Mr. Mytilineos, while mentioning the energy infrastructures that have been built in recent years and which make our country key to the energy security of Europe, also spoke about Mytilineos’ gas trading activities, which have been developing dynamically since the company serves more LNG slots Revituss terminal. “Greece is currently becoming the liquefied natural gas gateway for the whole world,” he said, also referring to the new liquefied natural gas (FSRU) terminals that are under construction or are in the mature stage of licensing.

He argued that Greece was in a better position than Italy in terms of European energy security and explained: “Greece is in a unique position because it has easier access to the North. Italy is already a very large market and has been supplying gas directly from Africa via pipeline for many years. Western Europe has its own infrastructure. Greece is different, while infrastructure is needed for other places such as Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Romania and even further southeast and east Europe.”