PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis will travel today, Wednesday (5/8), to Porto Germeno, shortly after the devastating wildfire that struck Western Attica. Yesterday, Nikos Androulakis visited Boeotia, where he spoke with residents about the impact of the blaze.
The climate crisis cannot be used as an excuse
Speaking yesterday from Boeotia, Nikos Androulakis argued that “the climate crisis is here. It cannot be used as an excuse. Unfortunately, the government often argues as though climate change has only just arrived. It has been here for years.” He went on to add that climate change “cannot serve as an alibi for the shortcomings in preparing the state apparatus — where many issues arise — in prevention and rapid response in such situations.” He stressed that PASOK and Giorgos Moulkiotis, the party’s local member of parliament, would be closely monitoring the situation “so that damage assessments are carried out quickly and compensation arrives as soon as possible, allowing economic life in the area to resume and ensuring this disaster does not become yet another reason for permanent residents to leave.”
We must stop weeping over the ashes
The PASOK leader placed particular emphasis on strengthening the Fire Service, which he described as aging, stating that “we must support our firefighters.” “They go to work in the morning not knowing if they will return. We must, therefore, support our firefighters. We must support Civil Protection. And we must stop allowing climate change to be a constant excuse for the failures of the state apparatus,” he added. He noted that “unfortunately, we witness many natural disasters every year,” stressing that “we must stop weeping over the ashes” and that “the state must modernize — its mechanisms must be modernized and decentralized — so that we can achieve the best possible outcome.”
We must invest in prevention and preparedness plans
In his statements, Nikos Androulakis emphasized, among other things, that “our thoughts are, first and foremost, with the families of the five fellow citizens who lost their lives in such an unjust and tragic way, fighting amid the flames.” He added that “this is not the moment for cheap political point-scoring; however, there are questions that must be answered: Who was responsible for aerial coordination at Psatha, and what protocols were in place at the time of the simultaneous helicopter operation?”
He also reiterated that “the climate crisis did not arrive overnight. It has been unfolding for years. And it must not serve as an excuse for any government,” noting that “for this reason, we must evaluate what has happened with the resources allocated to the AEGIS and Antinero programs, how effective the aircraft we lease every year actually are, what their operational value is, and how we have supported the Fire Service, which fights an enormous battle against the flames every summer.”
Concluding, the PASOK leader underlined that “if we do not invest in prevention and preparedness plans, we will never achieve the resilience our country needs to withstand the climate crisis.”
