Greece's Minister of National Economy and Finance, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, has submitted a request to the European Commission to expand the country's National Escape Clause to cover energy resilience investments exceeding €1 billion through 2028.
The request seeks to extend an existing exemption originally limited to defense spending, allowing Greece to fund energy security and fossil fuel transition projects without breaching EU fiscal spending limits.
Under the bloc's fiscal rules, Greece's net expenditure growth is capped at 3.6% in 2026, 3.1% in 2027 and 3% in 2028; the escape clause allows temporary deviation from those limits for designated spending categories.
According to the Finance Ministry, the investment program will include renewable energy storage projects, energy efficiency measures, upgrades to public and private buildings, installation of heat pumps and solar water heaters, island electrical interconnections, and critical energy infrastructure to strengthen system security.
Specific projects will be finalized in coming months in coordination with other government ministries.
The move aligns with a broader strategy by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis's government to bolster Greece's energy resilience within the EU framework.
If approved, the exemption would allow the state to spend more on designated energy projects without being forced to cut spending elsewhere to comply with the bloc's fiscal constraints.
The request follows a European Commission announcement earlier this year expanding the scope of national escape clauses to cover measures that strengthen the resilience of Europe's energy system and accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels, alongside existing defense-related exemptions.