A Greek energy spat is getting out of hand – the EU must listen

Two Greek electricity firms are fighting a legal battle, Chris Blackhurst says. So why is Brussels doing nothing?

Putting Greece's energy back into the hands of the public sector was a key part of the 2015 economic bailout (iStock)

While Britain beats itself up over its future in the EU, across the other side of Europe, a little-noticed law case has been meandering along that has far-reaching ramifications for the high-ups in Brussels.

As someone who visits Greece regularly, loving the country to bits, I’ve always had my doubts about the ability of Athens to deliver on the 2015 EU bailout. Indeed, it was precisely the characteristics I so enjoyed, and inevitably find myself yearning for during the dark days of an English winter, that drives the scepticism. The languor of beaches, olive groves, village squares and restaurant terraces under a fierce sun, the relaxed pace of life, the obvious delight of a populace in treating central authority, and rules and regulations, and above all, taxation, with disdain.

Admittedly my view was hardened during the holiday season, far away from the capital, on the isles and Peloponnese. Even so, it was possible to get a measure of a proud nation that for centuries went about its business in its own way, at its own speed. The notion it might suddenly change to satisfy the requirements of an externally-imposed rescue package was, I thought, fanciful.