The mission of the French firefighters is in Greece, to help together with their Greek colleagues in the battle to deal with forest fires, within the framework of the pre-installation program implemented through the European Civil Protection Mechanism with the support of the European Commission. The mission consists of 25 French firefighters (motorized units) and will be in Athens until the end of August.
“Your presence proves once again how strong the bonds of the Greek fire brigade are with the French firefighters. At the same time, it confirms the strong historical ties between the two countries of Greece and France”, said the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Christos Stylianidis, at the welcome ceremony held today at the premises of the Fire Academy. Mr. Stylianides emphasized that through the pre-positioning pilot project it is proven that European solidarity works in practice.
“I am sure that your presence today under the well-known difficulties that France is facing proves that what we call European solidarity and fraternal relations between France and Greece are proven in practice in difficult times, where despite our own difficulties we nevertheless run together the brother who is a member of the European family”, said the minister characteristically and added that a few days ago they managed to send help, 2 Canadair, to France to deal with the difficult fires in the southwest of the country.
“It is a special day for us, for the Greeks and especially for the Fire Brigade that the French mission is with us again in a difficult period when it is known that you in France are also facing many difficulties from this year’s forest fires. I do not hide from you that the success of this pre-installation program is proof that European solidarity can work with concrete results in practice.
It was typical during our visit a few days ago to Tripoli, in the Peloponnese, that even ordinary people asked when the French would come to us this year. Your colleagues, the Greek firefighters, after last year’s experience and also previous experiences, are waiting for you to act together in a difficult field such as today’s, this year’s season of fires due to the climate crisis”, underlined Mr. Stylianidis.
For his part, the head of the French mission, Sylvain Seval, said: “We will be in Greece for the month of August to help your country “fight” against forest fires. We have come with our equipment so we can go everywhere to fight forest fires.”
At the same time, the French delegation said goodbye to the 28 colleagues from Romania, who left for their country immediately after the end of the welcoming ceremony.
It is noted that yesterday the corresponding mission from Norway arrived in our country, while today their colleagues from Finland are also arriving. The Norwegian mission consists of 27 firefighters who will be deployed in two shifts and the Finnish mission of 48 firefighters in two shifts as well. The two missions will be based in Tripoli.
