PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis visited the wildfire-stricken areas of Boeotia, where he spoke with local residents and stressed that “if we don’t invest in prevention and preparedness plans, we will never achieve the resilience our country needs to withstand the climate crisis.”
The climate crisis didn’t just arrive
Nikos Androulakis argued that “the climate crisis is here. It cannot be used as an alibi. Unfortunately, the government often frames its arguments 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 state’s shortcomings in preparedness — where many problems arise — in prevention and rapid response in situations like these.” He emphasized that PASOK and its local MP, Giorgos Moulkiotis, would be closely monitoring the situation “to ensure that damage assessments are carried out quickly and that compensation reaches affected residents as soon as possible, so that economic life in the region can continue and this disaster doesn’t become yet another reason for permanent residents to leave.”
We must support our firefighters and Civil Protection
The PASOK leader placed particular emphasis on strengthening the Fire Service, which he described as underfunded and aging, stating that “we must support our firefighters.” “They go to work in the morning not knowing if they’ll come home. So we must support the firefighters. We must support Civil Protection. And we must stop letting climate change be a constant alibi 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 crying over the ashes” and that “the state must modernize — its mechanisms must be modernized and decentralized — so we can achieve the best possible outcomes.”
This is not the time for cheap political point-scoring
In his statements, Nikos Androulakis noted, among other things, that “our thoughts are, first and foremost, with the families of the five fellow citizens who lost their lives in a tragic and unjust way, fighting within the flames.” He added that “this is not the time 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 during the simultaneous helicopter operation?”
He once again underlined that “the climate crisis didn’t arrive just now. It began years ago. And it must not be used as an alibi by any government.” He noted that “for this reason, we must evaluate what has happened with the resources allocated to the AEGIS and Antinero programs, how effective the aerial assets 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 single summer.”
Closing his remarks, the PASOK leader stressed that “if we don’t invest in prevention and preparedness plans, we will never achieve the resilience our country needs to withstand the climate crisis.”
