By Penelope Galliou

A year after the disastrous passage of the Daniel Daniel that caused countless wounds in Thessaly, the Kyriakos Mitsotakis he will be there today for the umpteenth time, in order to be informed about the progress of the restoration projects that have been completed or are progressing, but also to present new flood protection measures.

The visit of Kyriakos Mitsotakis includes visits to villages affected by the disasters of Daniel in order to be informed about projects that have been delivered, starting with a visit to Farkadona where he will talk with local institutions and citizens and then he will visit Metamorfosi, Palamas and the Mouzaki of Karditsa. In the afternoon at 5 pm, he will speak at the Killeler Town Hall at the event entitled “Strategic plan for the reconstruction of Thessaly – dams, infrastructure and hydrology projects” where the anti-flood projects for the Thessalian plain will be presented. Projects, which concern infrastructure and hydrology projects, dams and irrigation, which have to do with water management but also with flood protection, which is a major issue for the region.

Its reconstruction Thessaly moreover, it is one of the biggest bets of the ND government’s second four-year term, with government officials maintaining a subdued optimism about the course of Daniel’s disaster recovery moving within the timelines set for the titanic project, which is paid so that the area and the lives of its inhabitants return to a normality as quickly as possible.

The prime minister, during his presence in the affected areas, is expected to emphasize the scale of the disaster, which he also described in other visits as the “greatest natural disaster that the Greek state had to manage in its history” and to focus on the reconstruction of Thessaly and the time it takes, as projects are categorized into medium and long-term, while their effectiveness, like government planning, will be judged over time. The fact that he is expected to focus on is also that it is a collective bet of the government and local government and to reiterate the commitment of the government to be constantly present both in dealing with the immediate problems but also with the planning of long-term measures and projects.

The Prime Minister’s visit is coordinated by the Minister of State Akis Schertsoswhile the Ministers of Environment and Energy will be present Theodoros Skylakakisof Rural Development and Food Kostas Tsiaras and of Transport and Infrastructure Christos Staikouras.

At the same time, it seems that the negotiation struggle that the government gave to the E.U. throughout the previous period is already bearing fruit. in order to provide additional financial support for the reconstruction of Thessaly as just last Tuesday, August 27, the European Commission proposed financial support of more than €1 billion from the EU Solidarity Fund (ESF) to help Italy, Slovenia , Austria, Greece and France to deal with the effects of the severe floods that hit these countries in 2023.

An aid package from which Greece is expected to receive 101.5 million euros to support recovery efforts after the floods of September 2023.

This is a financing proposal, which is a continuation of the requests for assistance from the EUSF from the countries concerned and once the Commission’s proposal is approved by the Parliament and the Council, the financial assistance can be disbursed without delay and in a single installment in each of the applicant countries.