SYRIZA spokesperson: Gov’t must apologize for delays, inefficiency despite weather forecasts

The forecasts for Karditsa, central Greece, had warned of the threat of severe flooding, but there was no timely intervention and coordination by the government, SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance spokesperson Stergios Kalpakis told Action 24 news station on Saturday.

Kalpakis cited related questions posed by ieidiseis.gr website that were never addressed by the government, he said. The repercussions of the ‘Daniel’ weather phenomenon “comprise a tragedy, not a ‘setback’, as [Prime Minister Kyriakos] Mitsotakis misstated yesterday,” Kalpakis underlined, while he blamed the government with delays in flood plans that had been ratified in 2018.

Επίσκεψη του Πρωθυπουργού Κυριάκου Μητσοτάκη στις πληγείσες απο την κακοκαιρία DANIE περιοχές Καρδίτσα – Τρίκαλα – Λάρισα. Παρασκευή 8 Σεπτεμβρίου 2023 (ΔΗΜΗΤΡΗΣ ΠΑΠΑΜΗΤΣΟΣ/ΓΡΑΦΕΙΟ ΤΥΠΟΥ ΠΡΩΘΥΠΟΥΡΓΟΥ/EUROKINISSI)

The government also set up the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection in the fall of 2021 without an organizational chart, while “only 0.5% of funding from the Recovery and Resilience Fund resources for civil protection has been utilized,” Kalpakis noted. He added that following the ‘Ianos’ weather phenomenon in 2020, “millions of euros have been distributed to the Thessaly prefecture for antiflooding works, and the question is, how were they utilized? New Democracy ‘favorite’ Konstantinos Agorastos, has been regional governor for 12 years now and must provide answers,” the main opposition spokesperson said.

“In order to manage the climate crisis, we need a national plan for prevention and management of the repercussions,” Kalpakis underlined, but instead “government officials attacked even scientists for the scientific data they presented.” The government must admit its mistakes and omissions and “its huge responsibilities for the situation we are now facing,” he added.