Conflicting policies threatening the sustainability of Greece’s electricity model: short history and lessons learnt

The four Institutions involved in Greece’s economic rescue programs, insisted on the partial privatization of Public Power Corporation’s (PPC) lignite portfolio based on a case that was initiated 20 years ago when the economic realities of lignite were vastly different. This paper criticizes the European Commission on its persistence to enforce such one-dimensional approaches, while contradicting even the EU’s own climate policies. It further highlights the role of environmental NGOs and think tanks, which, together with key developments in EU legislation prevented a structural lock-in to lignite and paved the way for the decision to phase out lignite by 2028.