Fires: Ruthless questions, opposition reaction and questions from the Greek people to the country's leadership

Attica has lost another part of its “green lungs”, and the government failed to fulfill its mission. The way the authorities dealt with the prevention and extinguishing of the fire raised a big question mark in relation to the functioning of state mechanisms.

Big fire, which has been burning for the past four days in northeastern Attica, has shown that it completes the puzzle disasters of previous years… Loud-voiced “readiness” the state mechanism turned out to be “fake”A “executive power” The Mitsotakis government suffered a catastrophic failure in both preventing and effectively responding to the fires.

The opposition as a whole took the side of the victims from the very first moment and maintained an oppositional tone in the face of a huge ecological disaster, lost property and bereavement one of our fellow citizens who became a victim of the fire.

Mistakes, responsibility, omissions and… spectators in one performance

With flames engulfing thousands of hectares of green space, any mistakes, responsibilities, or omissions have faded into the background, but against the backdrop of the unfolding gloomy landscape, the voices of criticism of the government have been growing exponentially since early Tuesday morning.

Relentless questions about the fire

While the government announces assistance measures for fire victimswhich have already been named “an aspirin tablet” due to its worthlessness, copying the analogies of previous disasters, the main question that dominates in society: what went wrong, and the fire reached the city area, even spreading to the central streets of the capital's suburbs. This is the first and most important question that needs to be answered to avoid similar disasters in the future.

Another question, of a more general nature, is related to preparations to prevent a new disaster. Given that the government knew about the extreme risk of fire, that the Ministry of Civil Defence and Crisis Management had held the necessary meetings to take action, why did we find ourselves again at the same performance as spectators?

And in any case, since difficult weather conditions were a given, why did our country turn to the European Civil Protection Mechanism to send foreign firefighting forces?

Meanwhile, over the years we have seen how the concept of “prevention” has been reduced to the “112” warning service, and the following question naturally arises: Are more measures needed to prevent natural disasters, or is climate change to blame?

Position of the opposition

In the first hours after the fire, the opposition was stingy with its comments, initially sending messages expressing support for the victims, and leaving the blame for later, after the fires had been extinguished.

On Tuesday morning (13/08) the opposition filed a request for disclosure of information about air vehiclesinvolved in extinguishing the fire in Attica, about which the president SYRIZA Stefanos Kasselakis stated in his post on social media:

“The priority now is to extinguish the fire, but the next day, finally, a national plan to prevent the climate crisis must be developed. Every summer, we lose the few remaining 'green lungs', property is destroyed and lives are put at risk.”

As Stefanos Kasselakis emphasized: “Since during my visit to the Civil Defense Coordination Committee I myself saw in the system only three aircraft operating in the Attica region, SYRIZA-PS made the following official request through our sector head Simeon Kedikoglou.” He added that “The Greek people deserve to know the truth.”

In the presence of SYRIZA-PS President Stefanos Kasselakis “Solidarity for all” will deliver food and other items to the Marathon Municipality.

The fire brigade published detailed information about aircraftwho worked on the fire in Attica, and shortly after that SYRIZA-PS noted in its statement that “The Mitsotakis government is once again trying to hide the truth from the Greek people after a disaster for which it bears full responsibility.”

Stefanos Kasselakis calls for Kikilias' resignation

Shortly after, Stefanos Kasselakis notes that “political responsibility is determined by the results of political actions and political choices. For a fire to cross 40 kilometers in the already half-burnt Attica, to penetrate the territory of the city and burn it down – this is something that suits Kabul, not Athens,” having called “for the immediate resignation of Mr. Kikilias from his post as minister.”

Recalling that during yesterday's visit to the Civil Defense Coordination Center, Stefanos Kasselakis expressed respect and gratitude to the opposition for the dedication of the firefighters who are fighting this unequal battle with the flames, stressing, among other things, that “Now is not the time to talk about any shortcomings that brought this fire literally to Athens.”

I will talk about the responsibility that the entire government, and first and foremost the Prime Minister, must bear in the next few days.

“No excuses can be tolerated when, for five years, every summer, disaster becomes a grim norm,” – emphasized in the statement of the deputy from SYRIZA-PS Olga Gerovassili. The second vice-speaker of parliament and the deputy from the SYRIZA-PS party in the city of Arta notes that this time the fire engulfed the city area several kilometers from the center of the capital.

“It was necessary to carry out preventive measures”

General Secretary of the Central Committee KKE Dimitris Koutsoumbas sided with the victims of the fire in Varnabas, saying the situation was very critical(…).

“There must be prevention, a comprehensive plan to protect forests. This territory has burned many times, it has been restored, but the necessary measures that could protect this lung of our homeland have not been taken. From this point of view, we say that “yesterday” all forest roads should have been opened, “yesterday” the forest should have been cleared, “yesterday” all the necessary equipment, infrastructure, personnel should have been prepared, and the population should have been prepared for such situations,” – he said.

“Responsibility will be distributed”

Chairman of the parliamentary group New Left Alexis Haritsis blames Mitsotakis' government in the fire in Attica and promises that “they will be paid.” According to him, the biblical destruction in the capital of the country, even in the residential sector, “shocking, unthinkable and outrageous.”

NEAR previously noted that “This year's uncontrolled holocaust is the result of the worsening climate crisis and the deliberate political choice of Mr. Mitsotakis' government to do nothing to prevent, protect and defend areas that will be in the red zone,” he stresses, citing a report by the ENA Institute on the absorption of funds from the Recovery Fund for Civil Defense, which “cruelly reaches 1%”.

“A lot has to change”

President PASOK Nikos Androulakis was in the fire-stricken areas of Lake Marathon in Attica on the morning of Tuesday, August 13. He stressed: “We are deeply shocked by the tragic loss of a man. Unfortunately, this year too, we are spectators of the same spectacle. Fires and disasters even a few kilometers from the center of the capital.”

Nikos Androulakis in the fire-affected areas of Lake Marathon

He went on to say that “Much must change immediately in civil defence and forest protection plans, with a more active role for the forest service and the use of seasonal firefighters for prevention during the winter months.” He stressed: “We are ready to discuss without party bias how our country will have strong civil defense.” In conclusion, Nikos Androulakis said: “We cannot go through such tragic consequences every year. We must do more and sooner.”

From the editor as an afterword. During the past years of Kyriakos Mitsotakis' rule, Greece has lost almost 20% of its forests. We can talk endlessly about “climate crisis“, you can even create a ministry for this topic with an insane budget compared to other structures, but nothing can be done to stop the country's regular burnout.

Fires actually happen every year, and every time we hear from everyone “iron” the prime minister's assurances that “We are prepared for fires”and then we see real fires, the authorities’ unpreparedness to extinguish them, and the catastrophic consequences, which, in essence, it is no longer possible to fix it.

Since the fires of 2021, when Tatoi, Evia and other areas of Greece burned down, Greek society has begun to talk about “the evil fate of Kyriakos Mitsotakis” believing that his rule brings misfortune to the country. Will not go into detail “conspiracy theories” however, if everything continues at this rate, then despite the inflated budgets of the ministry “climate crisis” Greece will soon turn into a desert, and the role of the current prime minister in all this will be far from the last.

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