Mytilineos Warns Political Chaos Is a Luxury Greece Cannot Afford

Evangelos Mytilineos, chief executive of Metlen Energy and Metals, issued a wide-ranging set of warnings and disclosures at a conference in Athens on Tuesday, touching on Greek political stability, the failures of European energy policy, and a landmark Greek investment in gallium production that he said has undercut Chinese competitors on cost.

Mytilineos spoke at a conference titled “National Action Plan Under Conditions of Global Uncertainty,” organized by Kyklos Ideon, a think tank founded by former Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, and the Delphi Economic Forum.

Politics first

On the domestic political outlook, Mytilineos was blunt. “Greece is currently at a real crossroads of defense and geopolitical upheaval,” he said, adding that political instability was “a very great luxury” the country could not afford. With the ruling New Democracy party short of an outright parliamentary majority, he called on all political forces to set aside what he called toxicity and focus on workable governance. “I do not see any willingness to cooperate,” he said, “hence the risk of ungovernability.” He warned that “governmental stability