Greece will be allocated at least 2.2 billion euros to recover from fires and floods

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in joint statements with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Strasbourg, claimed that this year Greece experienced the biggest fire in European history and the biggest flood in the country’s history.

In particular, the Prime Minister pointed out the seriousness of the situation and noted that Greece suffered from two historical disasters – a megafire, especially in Evros, and the worst flood in our history.

It is worth noting that in previous days the Athens National Observatory presented data confirming that the fire in Evros burned the largest number of hectares of land in history EU.

The Prime Minister showed a photo of the village of Metamorfosi to highlight the scale of the destruction: “We are counting on Europe’s support, since the economy is in good shape and we can meet the needs.”

In turn, the chairman of the commission said: “We will act quickly and effectively.” And she named ways to allocate up to 2.2 billion euros to Greece, as well as funds from the European Solidarity Fund: “Next year, 400 million euros could be allocated from there. We will use money that was not used in the previous period.” Mrs von der Leyen said:

• We will use money from the previous period that was not spent from the cohesion funds.
• The second source is the European Support Fund, where we will send funds.
• The third element is the common agricultural policy. We also have a new program that we will look at. This money will be used to restore forests and rural infrastructure.
• The EU will be by your side with its recovery fund (€400 million).
• Funds from the “next generation 2” program will also be allocated.

The chairwoman of the commission noted that such a disaster had never happened in Greece, calling it “a very sad picture for the country.” “Europe stands on the side of the weak and I want you to know that we will stand on the side of Greece and the Greeks,” Ms von der Leyen added, noting that solidarity had been the theme of an earlier meeting attended by Greek ministers and members of the European Commission.

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