By Michalis Psilos

“As a country, we must rely on our own strengths,” said Evangelos Mytilineos, President and CEO of METLEN ENERGY & METALS, in a discussion with the director of naftemporiki.gr, Michalis Psilos, during the 4th Naftemporiki Economic Conference.

“I am glad that Naftemporiki is regaining its former glory,” Mytilineos stressed and congratulated the newspaper.

Michalis Psilos gave credit to Mytilineos for the initiative to “dress” the Greek Pentagon in a bioclimatic manner. Following the comment, the President and CEO of METLEN pointed out that the Pentagon is currently “the best Pentagon in the EU.”

More specifically, he said that “it is a jewel for the Armed Forces and the capital and I am happy that the leadership of the Pentagon did us the honor of making this donation. The most correct word is indebted to the place that gave us the opportunity to become human. I did it with great pleasure.”

Asked by Michalis Psilos about the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in South Korea and the future of global trade, Mytilineos said that Trump altered the global situation in a few months. He noted that China is pursuing a completely different policy, with a 20- or 50-year horizon, emphasizing that the Chinese have a way to defend themselves in trade policies.

In response to Michalis Psilos’ question about what Europe can do to react, Mytilineos said that following his visits to Brussels, he was overtaken by a deep sadness . “Unfortunately, Europe has been left completely out of the geopolitical game and lost a large part of the competitiveness it had.”

He explained that “having lost the advantage of competitiveness, having lost the ability to carry out large exports throughout the planet and having to face ‘Hurricane Trump,’ Europe has lost in the game of the great powers where the fate of the planet is decided. I often say that Europe spent its best 80 years after the war.”

“Now this soft power that Europe exported to the whole world, in a short period of time, has been replaced by this hard power. At the moment, weapons are talking, neither Beethoven nor Bach is talking,” he said.

“That is where the power is concentrated and Europe follows. This also has an economic impact. Trump comes and says he will impose 30% tariffs on Europe. In the end he meets with Mrs. Von der Leyen, agrees to 15% and leaves,” he continued.

“I don’t know how the European Commission will force every company to buy American oil. We gave Trump what he wanted, he took it, he left,” he said.

Mytilineos also noted that energy markets are gradually uniting on a global basis. As he stressed, natural gas is becoming a commodity like oil and will play a strategic role in the coming decades.

He stressed that Europe relied heavily on Russian gas and Russian oil to achieve the post-war economic miracle until 5 years ago.

Asked by Michalis Psilos where the energy situation in Greece is heading, he said that “I am not optimistic about the cost of energy, neither in Greece nor in Europe.”

He noted that despite the high cost, electricity in Europe is among the 2-3 cheapest in Europe, although the difference in wages must be taken into account. “In absolute terms, in Greece we have cheap electricity for households and very expensive electricity for industry. It is a political issue.”

In response to a question about European institutions, he stated that the European edifice was built on the basis of certain data. As he emphasized, this edifice is now out of date. “The Americans do not know who to talk to in Europe,” he noted.

In conclusion, he emphasized that Greece is indeed a member of the EU and NATO, but at the end of the day it must be ready to rely on its own strengths.