Ursula von der Leyen – “It is urgent that we now proceed to the fight against climate change”

“Time is running out. It is urgent that we now proceed to the fight against climate change”, stresses Ursula von der Layen in an exclusive interview she gave to the Athens Macedonian News Agency on the occasion of the Med9 Summit held in Athens and the Declaration adopted by the leaders of the countries participating in Session. The President of the European Commission stresses that nine countries in the southern Mediterranean can be pioneers in the fight against climate change

Commenting positively on the initiative of Kyriakos Mitsotakis to convene the Summit “at the right time”, as she characteristically says, Ms. von der Layen points out that “no country can respond to climate change on its own, but we need the whole EU”.  She also recalled that all countries have signed the Paris Agreement to reduce global warming by 1.5 ℃ , noting that while the US has already taken steps to achieve the goals, China should take short-term action measures to ensure that it achieves these goals.

The President of the European Commission characterizes Mr. Mitsotakis as “active and ambitious” in the fight for climate change and welcomes on the one hand the recent reforms in the Civil Protection to deal with climate change, on the other hand emphasizes that almost 40% of the total funds that Greece will receive from the NextGeneration Fund (EU) will be directed to “green” projects. “This shows a clear commitment of the Greek Prime Minister and his government to really tackle climate change,” she said.

Regarding the pandemic, the President of the European Commission warns that “we have not left the pandemic behind yet and that is why we must remain vigilant”. That is why, due to the Delta mutation, she calls on those who have not yet been vaccinated to do so, assuring that there is a sufficient number of vaccines for all EU countries and their citizens.