(Thessaloniki) Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis judged on Saturday that Greece, hit by “the most serious fires and floods in its history” during the summer, was suffering “a war in peacetime” with climate change.
“We are in a kind of war in peacetime,” assured the head of government during his annual back-to-school speech, announcing in particular a strengthening of the role of the army in the fight against the consequences of natural disasters.
The conservative leader, who faces criticism for the haphazard management of floods in the center of the country last week, indicated that a special reserve for natural disasters would be doubled to reach 600 million euros (865 million CAN dollars) from 2024.
It will be financed by increasing an occupancy tax on luxury hotels, he said.
PHOTO VAGGELIS KOUSIORAS, ASSOCIATED PRESS
The country was hit by floods last week.
After devastating fires in July and then at the end of August which ravaged more than 150,000 hectares, Greece was hit last week by floods which, according to police sources, left 17 dead in the center of the country, in Thessaly, an agricultural region. of prime importance.
“The cost of restoration will be considerable, but our economy is strong enough to support it,” insisted Mr. Mitsotakis during this speech at the International Fair in Thessaloniki (north).
PHOTO SAKIS MITROLIDIS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
A forest fire was active on September 2 in Lefkimmi, in northern Greece.
“What we have lost, State and citizens, we will rebuild together,” he said, calling climate change a “new enemy”.
He is expected to detail the measures planned to combat the consequences of bad weather during a press conference on Sunday.
Comfortably re-elected almost three months ago, Kyriakos Mitsotakis faces harsh criticism from the opposition and part of the population affected by these bad weather due to the slowness of relief and a lack of coordination between the army and civil protection services.
The left-wing opposition Syriza particularly criticized the lack of flood prevention work in Thessaly, already hit by devastating bad weather in 2020.