Greek PM Mitsotakis: Announces measures for flood victims

The atmosphere was tense during the briefing by Kyriakos Mitsotakis in the Plenary Session of the Parliament on Wednesday morning regarding “the implementation of the government’s initiatives regarding the reconstruction of the regions of Thessaly and Evros and the response to the climate crisis” .

The prime minister informed Parliament about the plan implemented by the government for the reconstruction of the affected areas, while he is expected to receive severe criticism from the opposition.

What Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in his prologue

“I welcome the agreement in the Middle East to release a first group of Israeli hostages combined with a temporary ceasefire for humanitarian aid to Gaza. It is something that Greek diplomacy sought. Much remains to be done to de-escalate the crisis and the government will continue to engage in discussions with all parties.” he said at first.

Afterwards, Kyriakos Mitsotakis said “I am here to inform the Parliament about the major issue of the climate crisis, which is afflicting the entire planet. This issue requires both realistic actions and consents. This problem does not concern only our country”.

He added that “[Storm] Daniel, which caused so many disasters in Greece, later hit Libya as well. When Janos hit us, we were talking about an unprecedented phenomenon, Daniel’s rates were 20 times higher than Janos. All these phenomena affect the whole of a country’s activities,” he pointed out.

Following this, Mitsotakis pointed out that “I will defend the priority given to human life and the work for those on the front line”. He referred to the importance of 112, while referring to the president of PASOK, he said that “In floods, the standard instruction of Mr. Androulakis is to go to the highest point.”

“This problem does not concern only Greece”

“We know that globally as a result of global warming from 2010 to 2020 extreme weather events increased by 50% compared to the previous decade. This year we faced the hottest summer and autumn on the planet,” said the prime minister.

He also stated that “Defense against the climate crisis is a global and not just a reek issue. The new conditions exceed the size of the infrastructure that all countries had. It is the responsibility of policy to monitor new response measures to ensure the critical concept of resilience.

Scientists take for granted that in the Mediterranean the water temperature will increase by 2 degrees Celsius in the next 5 years and thus the risk of tropical storms increases for each degree that rises.

“There was no experience in the state apparatus on how to deal with it”

“Solidarity and technology in Thessaly prevented a much bigger drama,” noted Mr. Mitsotakis regarding the devastating floods in the region.

The Prime Minister stated that “Indeed, there was no experience in the state apparatus on how to deal with such a complex situation, a not at all easy business”.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke about the three priorities of the Government

“120 million euros have been approved to cover 80% of every flooded building”
“The disaster not only hurt properties, but also people’s souls,” he stressed. “Within the next few days, the rent and cohabitation allowance starts. We want to support the flood victims to rebuild their homes as soon as possible. 50 first huts have been allocated and a total of 700 have been ordered,” he said.

He then stated that “We must constantly conduct new checks and checks. Benign errors found that need to be fixed. Conquer and progress the first aid with automated processes and disbursements.”

“Anti-flood and anti-erosion works have already started .”

As for the breeders, he said that “They will be able to replace the animals they lost and repair their stables with new specifications. For businesses, we are proceeding before the holidays with the payment of 35% of the 70% that will be covered for the restoration of their operation.”

Regarding Evros, he said that “we want to give the producers the opportunity to rebuild their flocks and the beekeepers to restore their beehives”.

Regarding the schools, the Prime Minister stated that “The schools will be better than they were before”, stressing that 25 schools are expected to be rebuilt.

Three priorities

During his speech, Kyriakos Mitsotakis stated that “We want to cooperate with the scientists. We are already doing it in Evros with the Democritus University. For the management of the waters of Thessaly we have already requested the help of a special Dutch company, which is expected to present its report in February.”

It was mentioned that the Government has three priorities:

First, The most immediate mobilization to save lives in the disasters that we will face hereafter,

Second, the securing of greater resources and

Third, a comprehensive climate attack defense plan

“The road will be long and difficult”

As for the cost, the prime minister said that it “amounts to 3.3 billion, where the greater part will be European resources and from the budget with development and the largest revenue collection. The road is long and difficult.

We will stand by them, I know they are viewed with suspicion. We did it with Janos and we will do it with Daniel. It’s an occasion for big changes that we’ve been talking about for decades.”

Political opposition

From the side of SYRIZA, Sokratis Famellos emphasized the non-payment of compensations to farmers and breeders, while he presented the official opposition’s plan.

On the PASOK side, Nikos Androulakis also presenedt the party’s plan for the reconstruction of Thessaly and Dadia.

It is noted that the debate in the Parliament is conducted according to the procedure of Article 142A of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament, in the context of which, the presidents of the opposition parliamentary groups can speak about the content of the government’s announcement.