As work continues to prevent and contain fire threats across southern Europe, the Commissioner for Preparedness, Crisis Management and Equality, Hadja Lahbib, is in Athens, Greece today and tomorrow to hold meetings and discuss the EU’s joint wildfire prevention, preparedness and response efforts, and the future of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.
Today, the Commissioner is meeting the Minister for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Ioannis Kefalogiannis and visiting Greece’s Coordination Centre for Operations and Crisis Management. She will also visit the Greek national airbase hosting two airplanes from the EU’s joint firefighting fleet, rescEU, and meet with the Chair of the Committee on European affairs of the Hellenic Parliament, Giannis Plakiotakis. Tomorrow, Commissioner Lahbib will meet the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic, Mr Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The Commissioner will then participate in a ceremony to mark the handover of approximately 100 firefighting vehicles to Greece, funded in part by the EU. She will also meet Czech firefighters pre-positioned in Greece this summer as part of the teams deployed within the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.
Commissioner Lahbib said:
“The wildfire season in Europe is becoming longer, more intense, and less predictable. We must continue joining forces to be better prepared and equipped to respond – to wildfires and other emergencies. Greece is taking this challenge very seriously, and so is the EU. I am pleased our civil protection collaboration remains as strong as ever, and I look forward to our continued cooperation in the future.”
Since the beginning of the wildfire season, Greece has been active in responding to requests for firefighting assistance sent through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. It has supported Albania once and North Macedonia twice, with both activations involving the rescEU airplanes hosted in the country.
