Sánchez asks the groups to abandon “the partisan struggle” and support the decree to strengthen the Civil Protection system
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has announced that the Council of Ministers will approve this Tuesday the declaration of an area seriously affected by a civil protection emergency, known as a catastrophic area, for the territories affected by large fires this summer.
Sánchez has visited the area affected by the fire in the municipality of Teresa together with the president of the Generalitat, Ximo Puig; the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and the Government delegate, Pilar Bernabé. Previously, they have met in Viver with the mayors of the affected municipalities.
The president has recalled that this is the hottest summer since 1961 and has pointed out that more than 223,000 hectares have already been burned. More than 270,000 people have had to be evicted throughout Spain. “Unfortunately, science tells us that these coming summers we are going to have hotter temperatures,” he added, and underlined the climate emergency, which “is here and is more real than ever.”
For this reason, he has advocated complementing the work of extinction with one of prevention. In this sense, he has requested support for the royal decree law approving measures against forest fires, which will be validated on Thursday in the General Courts and for which he has demanded the support of parliamentary groups.
«I would like to ask the parliamentary groups to abandon any kind of partisan struggle and approve what is common sense; all administrations have to equip ourselves with greater resources and reinforce institutional cooperation to face a common enemy that is fires”, assured Sánchez. Likewise, the president has pointed out that “new generation” fires require rethinking the way of working on them.
Sánchez has also emphasized the “psychological blow” that a fire like the one in Bejís entails for the residents of the area and has lamented the loss of belongings, heritage assets and biodiversity that they generate. For this reason, he has influenced cooperation between institutions, which must “provide the greatest resources” in prevention and extinction against the “common enemy” that are fires.
For his part, the president of the Generalitat, Ximo Puig, has lamented the “absolutely bleak” landscape left by the fires and has highlighted the “will to repair and look forward.” Likewise, he has highlighted that one of the “great objectives” has been met, which is that “no person has suffered the certainty of death.”
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