European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic arrived in Greece on 9 November 2017 as part of the Energy Union tour, its the EU's strategy to ensure that European citizens have access to secure and affordable enery.
Maros Sefcovic met Greek PM Alexis Tsipras, Minister of Energy and Environmental Policy Georgios Stathakis.
In addition, he hold discussions with the President of the National Energy Regulator and the top management of energy suppliers and transmission system operators in the area of electricity and gas.
These talks will focus on the situation of the gas and electricity market in Greece, its security of energy supply, and efforts to enhance energy efficiency.
Greece currently imports a higher proportion of its natural gas, petroleum products and coal than the EU average, which means it is potentially vulnerable to disruptions to its security of energy supply
A new Trans Adriatic Pipeline, part of EU efforts to open up the Southern Gas Corridor, is expected to open in 2020: linking Komotini in Greece and the region of Puglia in Italy (via Albania), the pipeline will help transport gas from Central Asia to the Mediterranean and allow Greece to diversify its sources of gas supply.
With a 15.4% renewables share in 2015, Greece is on track to meet its 2020 renewable energy target of 18%.
However, the share of renewables in transport was just 1.4% in 2015, meaning the country is currently set to miss its 2020 target of 10%.
Under EU climate legislation, Greece also has a target of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 4% by 2020, compared with 2005.
It is on course to exceed this target by a large margin.
