"Greece should not be alone in dealing with a situation that should be addressed by Europe as a whole. I want to emphasise that in the worst moments, the Greeks must see the best face of Europe, and that is what the parliamentary committees must do," European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said on Tuesday during her meeting with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The Greek premier is to have a series of meetings with the top officials of European institutions, to seek support for Greece in the aftermath of the recent natural disasters.
"As far as the budget and resources are concerned, any decision that needs to be taken by the parliament will be taken as soon as possible. Because we know that this is a major disaster linked to the climate crisis and requires unprecedented efficiency and assistance," Metsola added.
Mitsotakis underlined that he is in Strasbourg in order to mobilise more European support, both in the short term, so that Greece and the Greek people receive assistance right now, but also in the long term. "Let us be more aware of the fact that such phenomena will occur with greater frequency and that we cannot only focus on mitigating their impact," he said.
"At the European level we are very bold in our policy, climate neutrality by 2050. However, we need to be much more active in terms of adaptation. And, frankly, the funds currently available for adaptation are simply not enough to deal with these types of events," the prime minister said.