“The largest civil protection program from the payment of the Greek state – AEGIS – which is currently being implemented in the country, with the most modern that exists at the European level for dealing with crises and natural disasters”, presented to the Parliament the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Vassilis Kikilias.

At the same time, Mr. Kikilias, from the beginning of his speech, highlighted the Security Forces and the Armed Forces as participants in the battle against the crises and in the service for the protection of the Greek society and the Greek people. Addressing the House, he characteristically said:

“If you combine this with the entirety of our National and Defense policy, this is modern patriotism for the country” and he added that the decisions are made at the KYSEA, in the presence of the Prime Minister and all the ministers, they bind all of us and therefore it is assumed that no one who participates in the government, whether a minister and of course through the parliamentary committees, or a member of parliament, can have any doubts about what constitutes internal security, external security and decisions in foreign policy.

“So, I declare to you, after hearing it, once again, as a member of the government and of KYSEA, that I have never heard of or been part of any policy in these years that allocates a small gem from our country, let alone all these which have been heard lately” assured the national delegation, categorically, the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection. “This is modern patriotism and it involves a lot of hard work, effort, man-hours, from those of whom I sometimes see that we praise them – and rightly so – for the work they do, whether they are volunteers, whether they are firefighters, whether they are all people of Civil Protection, and who, look, now there is no fire protection period for them”, he pointed out characteristically.

Presenting the elements of the AEGIS program, Mr. Kikilias announced that it is being completed having, so far, contracted projects of half a billion (530.445 million euros) and by the end of February 2025, a total of 1.25 billion projects will have been contracted. euros and the first deliveries will have started.

In particular, the responsible minister informed that the following are being received:

– 449 of the 1,191 Fire Department vehicles, in May and August ’25.

– 300 vehicles for the Forest Service,

– 553 vehicles for ELAS,

– 140 vehicles for the Coast Guard,

– 250 ambulances for EKAV,

– 176 vehicles for the Ministry and

– 47,824 types of equipment for all of the above, for anything that constitutes a crisis in the country.

Also, with the personal intervention of the prime minister, seven more Canadair CL 515s and 10 medium-type firefighting helicopters are received.

“Mind you, there has never been a tender for this type of equipment, apart from interstate agreements,” added Mr. Kikilias.

Besides, he announced to the Plenary that shortly before he took the podium, he was informed by the appointed advisor of TAIPED, Panagiotis Stampoulidis, that the tender has been completed and is proceeding towards contracting for the 10 medium-type firefighting helicopters. “For the first time, our country will have them, the Civil Protection and the Armed Forces”, he added.

He also informed that three aircraft, air operations centers, contracted and signed are also being received: one twin engine jet, two modernized super puma, 25 fixed wing amphibians, the tractors.

Regarding the staff, he emphasized that with the completion before the fire fighting season of 2025, 2,500 seasonal firefighters joined the Fire Service, and because the issue of seasonals was of particular concern, he informed that from January next year 1,650 of them will become forest commanders . He explained that in the service of the country there are 20 forest commando units airborne across the length and breadth of the country and addressing the MPs he said: “You have seen them, you are district MPs the most, on our islands and in the remote areas fighting for eight months in the firefighting period together with volunteers, together with mayors, vice-mayors, representatives of the Civil Protection, the Armed Forces, the Greek Police”.

He continued by underlining that the numbers cannot be disputed: Only for 2025, 831 recruitments were made for Civil Protection, 70 probationary firemen, with pan-Hellenic exams, 260 probationary firefighters, 300 forest commanders, 150 firefighter drivers, 10 doctors, 30 officers for the fire ships , 15 engineer pilots and 15 technicians, 8 aircraft and helicopter operators.

“We received the Fire Department with 13,000 firefighters. In the fire season of 2025 we will have 18,000, 16,500 permanent and 2,500 seasonal” he added.

The Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection also referred to the project, with the use of Artificial Intelligence in the Warroom of Civil Protection, noting that they already flew drones over the country, organized and structured with 50 operations centers, specialist operators and engineers. “You saw their contribution to being able to get to the field earlier by identifying where the hazards are. Airborne patrols by all,” he added.

Concluding his speech, Mr. Kikilias observed that we experience the same difficulties and problems every day due to floods and other extreme situations that test us, while we see them around us in Europe. “I feel that for this reason, the work that has been done in Civil Protection but also in the whole, as you see, the issues of defense and security, puts a stamp in the last five and a half years on how we mean patriotism” he said and reminded who fought in Evros, on our northern border, to show the Greek Police and the Armed Forces helpers in this difficult task, as well as in preventing illegal immigrants from entering the country, as well as the health workers, the Civil Protection people, the local authorities, in dealing with the consequences of the pandemic, the porters in the fight and the defense of the country’s maritime borders.

“These people are fighting every day in the field. They don’t have a party sign, we never looked to see where they belong, where they are, whether they are officers or firefighters. Volunteers, whether police, port or military, are people who make us proud and deserve your support and your help” concluded the Minister of Civil Protection.