THE SYRIZAwith a letter from the President of the Parliamentary Group, Nikos Pappas, submitted a request to the Speaker of the Parliament, Kostas Tasoula, to hold a pre-agenda discussion on issues Civil Protection. The request was submitted on the occasion of the widespread destruction caused by the fires of this year’s fire fighting season, with the most recent one in Corinth, the zero prevention and shielding of the country and the incomplete restoration of infrastructure and support for those affected.

The criticism of the Official Opposition party, which highlights the inadequacy and unpreparedness of the government, focuses on the following points:

• From 2019 to today, four (4) million acres of land have been burned – This is a record of burned land.

• The Fire Service has 3,500 organizational vacancies.

• 2,000 of the 3,600 vehicles of the Fire Department are over 20 and 30 years old. A situation that will not improve with the addition of 160 new vehicles, recently announced by the Prime Minister.

• The absorption rate from the Recovery and Resilience Fund for the projects of the AEGIS program amounts to only 1%.
At the same time, it is emphasized that “SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance has submitted comprehensive proposals for Civil Protection, while it has repeatedly raised the relevant issues in the Parliament, addressing a government which, apparently on purpose, is deaf and unable to give adequate answers. He avoids the discussion, but also the assumption of responsibility”.

While the continuation of the letter states that in order to implement the prevention of forest fires “it is necessary to take a series of measures, such as strengthening the Forestry Service, which is leading to its dissolution with its systematic understaffing and underfunding, the adoption of long-term strategic prevention planning and coordination between the relevant bodies, the development of a sustainable forest management strategy with the removal of fuel and the creation of fire zones, the timely absorption of European funds for the implementation of forest protection projects, as well as the full implementation of land use regulations, in order to prevent disorderly and arbitrary building, especially on the outskirts of cities and in the sensitive areas between the urban fabric and the forest lands.’