The Greek government, which has stood as one of the staunchest supporters of the European Green Deal, appears to be growing increasingly restless about the additional cost of loftier green-transition objectives proposed by the European Commission.

Aristotelis Aivaliotis, the energy ministry’s General Secretary of Energy and Natural Resources, commenting during yesterday’s opening day of the two-day Power & Gas Forum in Athens, warned that the Green Deal risks losing popular acceptance as a result of its rising cost.

His words of caution came just one day after another leading energy ministry official opposed, at an Energy Council, a European Commission proposal for a 90 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU by 2040. This objective is estimated to require an additional 50 billion euros in national funds.

The EU managed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent between 1990 and 2021. This essentially means that the EU’s 27 will need to triple this achievement in the time remaining until 2040.

Athens’ reservations indicate that the Greek government is, for the first time, beginning to keep a distance from the EU’s climate policy.

The Greek government, like other administrations in the EU, has begun realizing that the European Commission’s tendency to set over-ambitious green transition targets represents a growing burden for households and could end up backfiring.

Such a development could irreparably undermine the effort to tackle climate change at its most crucial stage.