Greece and Italy signed agreements on energy and railways during the visit of PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis to Rome, where he met his counterpart Giorgia Meloni on Monday.
The two sides agreed on a second undersea power cable connecting Greece and Italy via the Adriatic Sea, in a deal worth nearly 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion). The agreement was signed by Italian power grid operator Terna and its Greek counterpart IPTO.
The new high-voltage link, named GRITA 2, will have a transmission capacity of up to 1,000 MW and span approximately 300 km in total, including around 240 km of subsea cable at depths of up to 1,000 meters, Terna said.
“It will contribute to the achievement of decarbonization targets and strengthen the position of Italy and Greece as electricity hubs in the Mediterranean,” the statement said, adding the two companies would invest 1.9 billion euros in the project.
The new infrastructure – which on the Italian side will start from the south-eastern Puglia region – will operate alongside an existing interconnection which has been in place since 2002, with a 500 MW capacity.
Following their meeting, Mitsotakis described his discussions with Meloni as substantive and said the number of agreements signed demonstrates that the Greece-Italy High-Level Cooperation Council should convene more frequently.
The Greek leader also said a deal was struck between Italy’s railway operator Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) and Athens’ transport ministry for investments to improve railway safety in Greece, where the train crash at Tempi killed 57 people in 2023.
“Greece is set to invest over €400 million in its rail network, while Italy will contribute €360 million to acquire new trains and build new depots,” Mitsotakis said.
“In practice, it’s about kickstarting a relationship… which was tested in the shadow of a big tragedy,” the Greek leader added, referring to that deal. Greece’s Hellenic Train is a unit of Italy’s FS.
Mitsotakis also referenced their discussions concerning Syria and Libya, stating: “We are no longer focusing on the internal redistribution of refugees; instead, we are prioritising the protection of our borders, combating smuggling rings, enhancing return policies, and reorganising our approach to receiving legal migrants.”
Referring to Ukraine, he noted that “ we support an unconditional 30-day ceasefire”.
Mitsotakis emphasized the need to strengthen European defense and Greek-Italian defense cooperation. “We share the view that our cooperation with the US is necessary and essential to reach a mutually beneficial trade agreement. We must avoid a trade war; we must make every effort to keep the West united against the challenges we face,” Mitsotakis added.
