“The day is very difficult. Obviously, we have to be measured, but there is an obligation to highlight the issues”, said the president of the KO of SYRIZA-PS, Nikos Pappascommenting on her fire at Wooden castlespeaking at Open. “Because if the fire goes out, if the spotlight is turned off and we go back to talking about current affairs, we’ll have put the issue aside and we’re just waiting for the next disaster,” he added.

“Right now exhausted firefighters are fighting the fire, our Fire Department has 4,000 organic vacancies, the AEGIS program was delayed two years to start – if it started normally it would be completed in 2025 – from 2021 and then we have 4 million burned acres”, emphasized Mr. Pappas, pointing out that “in his post yesterday, Mr. Mitsotakis advertised the AEGIS program” and “declared he was satisfied because we will receive before the next fire season only 150 new vehicles, when more than half of the existing fire engines are 20 and 30 years old”.

“It’s not just the deficiencies. It is the strategic choice of not supporting the Fire Department, while there were the available resources and the possibility of channeling too much money from the Recovery Fund”, stressed the president of the SYRIZA KO and concluded:]

“From 2020 until today, the cost of natural disasters amounts to 6 billion euros and the AEGIS program is at 2 billion euros. How much better is prevention than cure.”