Intervention of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the UN high-level event on sending early warnings and dealing with very high temperatures

Mr. Mitsotakis conveyed the Greek experience in providing early warnings in emergency situations by initially reporting the tragedy in Mati, at which point the government decided to review the way it deals with disasters.

As the prime minister said, initially the government focused on 3 issues, firstly technology and strengthening “112”.

The entire intervention of Kyriakos Mitsotakis

As the President of the Maldives pointed out, we are all shaped by the tragedies, resulting from natural disasters, that have struck us. In our case, it was a fire that destroyed an affluent suburb of Athens, in July 2018, killing 104 people, who did not receive any early warning of what was about to hit them. We committed then that we needed to review the way we deal with natural disasters.

We then quickly focused on three issues. The first is technology. The one investment we have made that has clearly paid off is the strengthening of the emergency number “112”, which means that we can now send to all mobile phones in the country, regardless of whether they are owned by Greeks or tourists, targeted messages, giving them very clear instructions on what to do in the event of a natural disaster. It is a relatively inexpensive technology that can be easily implemented.

And of course, combined with more advanced weather forecasting models that use artificial intelligence, we can have a very good picture of which areas of the country will be affected by which type of disaster.

The second issue we focused on was governance. As you pointed out, we established a Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection. It was a very important organizational change, because all the necessary agencies were gathered there: the army, the police, the fire brigade, the ambulances (EKAB), the forest services, the coast guard. We codified the responsibilities. We wanted to make sure that the lines of communication were open and that the hierarchy and division of duties was very clear.

Of course, we are also making significant investments in civil protection infrastructure. We channel more than 2 billion Euros of European funds to strengthen civil protection, much of which is directed to “smart” technologies, whether it’s drones we use for early detection of fires or more advanced weather forecasting technology at local level.

The third point, which was also touched upon by the President of the Maldives, relates to building relationships of trust with local actors. It’s no use sending out a ‘112’ message, telling people to evacuate in case of fire, if it’s not heard. So building those relationships of trust, educating people, developing an evacuation culture, making sure citizens trust civil protection services, is incredibly important.

In our case, we have succeeded. Sometimes it is better to turn people away and belch on the side of caution than to have lives lost because there was no information about what they were about to face.

Let me repeat that we are ready to share our experiences and practices with anyone who is interested in learning about the Greek example.

Thank you very much for your invitation.”

Participation of the Prime Minister in Parallel Events at COP29

Earlier, the Prime Minister attended the opening of the Greek pavilion at COP29, where he emphasized that Greece is a pioneer in the energy transition, having reduced emissions by approximately 45% compared to 2005, noting that the shift to clean power generation technologies is generating new investment opportunities. opportunities in the country. Kyriakos Mitsotakis noted that Greece is gradually turning into an energy exporter, pointing out the importance of a wider network of interconnections with other European countries.

The Prime Minister also underlined that the circular economy and the protection of unique ecosystems are an important part of Greece’s wider sustainability strategy, which is also particularly important for tourism.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis also took part in the Parallel Event entitled “Vertical Corridor: Europe’s New Energy Lifeline”, where he mentioned that Greece’s liquefied natural gas reception infrastructure and the vertical corridor contributed to shielding the supply of the wider region when the Russia has drastically reduced exports to Europe, adding that even Ukraine can be served through this corridor.

The Prime Minister also emphasized that the discrepancy in wholesale electricity prices between South-East European countries and other EU member states demonstrates weaknesses of the internal market.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis finally participated in the Bulgarian Parallel Event “High-Level segment of the President’s Administration and the Ministry of Energy”. The Prime Minister noted the need for cooperation at the regional level but also at the level of the European Council and the European Commission in order to address the distortions observed in the electricity markets of southeastern Europe.

He focused on the possibility of cooperation between member states, such as Greece, Bulgaria and Romania, in order to support each other in meeting their energy needs, utilizing sources in which each country specializes.