The government should publicly disapprove of the statements of the shipping minister with which he defiantly equates the perpetrator with the victim, said the president of PASOK. Nikos Androulakis, during the meeting of the Political Council referring to murder of the 36-year-old in Piraeus.

In particular, Mr. Androulakis stated that “this is a shocking crime that shows dehumanization, we cannot imagine how you throw a person into the sea, when it is obvious that where the ship was, you put his life in immediate danger. Greek public opinion has been shocked. Unfortunately, violence is now a daily occurrence.”

Regarding the summer fires and disasters in Magnesia Mr. Androulakis emphasized that climate change does not only concern Greece, unfortunately it concerns all the countries of the Mediterranean basin and added that “our country must prepare and control its infrastructure, which is becoming unsustainable, as a result of which we have this widespread and unexpected disaster.”

He continued that “something similar happened with the fires. The statistics we presented to Parliament are revealing. Our country, while having numerically fewer fires, had more unfavorable results. Hundreds of thousands of acres burned, a very painful reality which showed that we do not have serious prevention. As rapporteur for the rescEU Civil Protection Mechanism I was instrumental in the new Canadair order. It will be an important tool in firefighting, but it is not enough, because there is no substantial investment in prevention.”

“I visited the affected areas in Evros and Rhodope. Residents told me: The contractor undertakes to clear the forest roads, but the fuel is not removed from the forest. Who is responsible? Isn’t the district to blame? Isn’t the state responsible? They throw the blame on each other,” Mr. Androulakis emphasized.

Regarding the debate before the agenda, the president of PASOK said that “the presence of Mr. Mitsotakis in the Parliament, last week, was revealing of his arrogance. No mood for fruitful dialogue. Could it be that everything went so well, but that Dadia was completely destroyed? Is it possible that everything went so well, while in Rhodes the fire consumed a very large part of the island? In fact, he had the audacity to criticize us that what we reported about the disaster in Parnitha is not true, when the previous day WWF had given us the information, which he himself was concealing.”