As wildfires continue to ravage several countries around the Mediterranean, the European Union is coming to the aid of Tunisia and continuing its assistance to Greece to combat the flames in Rhodes, Corfu and Evia.
In response to a request for assistance submitted on Tuesday 25 July by the Tunisian authorities, two Canadairs were offered through the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM). These two planes come from the RescEU reserve of fire-fighting airborne resources, hosted in Spain, and “are currently being deployed in the north-west of the country”, on the border with Algeria, according to the European Commission on Wednesday.
At the same time, the resources deployed in one week to assist Greece totalled almost 500 firefighters (490 to be exact), more than 100 vehicles and seven planes made available by 10 countries. Serbia has joined the nine countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Italy, Malta, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) that have responded to the Greek authorities’ request for assistance (see EUROPE 13228/7).
“The wildfires ravaging the Mediterranean region require an immediate and united response. The European Union, through its Civil Protection Mechanism, stands in full solidarity with and readiness to support the affected countries”, commented the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, in a press release.
He also expressed his condolences to the families and colleagues of the two pilots of the Canadair that crashed on the island of Evia on Tuesday. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)