After rampaging wildfires throughout Europe this summer exhausted the bloc’s capacity to respond, the European Union and its member states agreed on Monday to accelerate plans to deploy an EU fleet of firefighting planes.
This summer’s wildfires drove thousands of Europeans to flee and destroyed homes and businesses, a pattern that is expected to worsen as climate change intensifies the hot and dry conditions that allow fires to spread, burn longer, and rage more ferociously.
Summer fires are common in southern European countries such as Portugal and Greece, but Germany and the Czech Republic have also experienced big blazes this year, as hotter temperatures bring fire risk north and into countries less prepared to deal with it.
The European Commission and ministers from EU countries agreed on Monday to look into an advanced purchase of EU-funded helicopters, according to the EU’s head of crisis management, Janez Lenarcic.
‘We have surpassed our capacity limit at the European level. Some massive fires in some member countries did not result in a request for assistance because the countries involved… knew that no capacity would have been available,’ Lenarcic informed .
The helicopter purchase will be contingent on additional EU funds being agreed upon in the bloc’s 2023 budget – a potentially difficult task as EU countries scramble for funds to support industries and citizens hit by soaring inflation, as well as invest in energy infrastructure to wean themselves off Russian gas.
Post Your Comments