“There is a comprehensive plan to deal, as much as possible, with the adverse economic and social consequences of this unprecedented disaster,” said Infrastructure and Transport Minister Christos Staikouras, speaking earlier in Parliament. Mr. Staikouras referred to the division of responsibilities, since the government, since the morning in the Plenary debate, has been heavily criticized for who bears the responsibility for the disaster in Thessaly.

“According to the 2010 law updated in 2018, the responsibilities relating to the planning, study, construction and maintenance of flood protection works as well as the responsibilities relating to the cleaning and policing of streams and expropriated areas despite the streams, are exercised by the competent services of the regions. And the Region has given full details of what projects have been implemented. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport is responsible for the major anti-flood projects, those of strategic importance for the country, based on the prescribed institutional framework,” said the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport.

After Janos, said Mr. Staikouras, other projects were implemented. “The information we have as the political leadership of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport is that from the other projects, interventions were implemented in 450 positions. After the full mapping of the needs, an additional 100 additional contracts were made and to date the total progress of the projects is at 75% and these projects, according to the information we have from the competent services of the ministry, these infrastructures have withstood the rains. Since the first image, no damage or failure has been recorded in them”, said Christos Staikouras.

Referring to the amendment concerning the involvement of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport in the planning and execution of the emergency interventions in Thessaly, Christos Staikouras said that there will be full involvement of the competent bodies and services of the ministry as well as the supervised entities. The description of the interventions will also state the cost of each action.

Mr. Staikouras informed the national delegation that the resources available for first aid interventions, mainly interventions in tunnels, roads and the railway network that are guaranteed for their implementation in the time horizon of the Recovery and Resilience Fund are approximately 600 million. “We must therefore move immediately, making use of today’s amendment, so that, with the proposal of the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport to the Cabinet, on projects that will be proposed, with their technical specification, and following the provisions of the law, we implement as quickly as possible the projects, safely,” said the minister. As he clarified, addressing the House, “obviously, the amendment does not fully address the result of the challenges that the country faces in the next period”.

Today, we are faced with a reality accompanied by numerous threats affecting the entire planet, said Christos Staikouras, recalling what is happening in Turkey, Bulgaria, Spain, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Canada, Libya, Mexico. He also said that extreme weather events are feeding each other and that the recurrence time of extreme events is getting closer and closer. “Given these facts, our approach must not only be of a short-term nature,” said the minister and emphasized: “There is also a second chapter for the required projects, the endurance they must have and their funding sources. There are additional sources of funding, which we secured with yesterday’s meeting – among others, sources of the new NSRF – and if necessary, there is also the European Investment Bank, with a loan of 750 million euros, on good terms, which is exclusively for this the purpose. But this has an effect on public finances. So we are exhausting the possibilities we have, without burdening the public finances, to implement the short-term and medium-long term projects. These projects obviously need to be more resilient in more adverse situations.” Mr. Staikouras said that another axis of the planning concerns the maintenance and control of existing projects, with the aim of enhancing their safety.