Greek Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Evangelos Tournas clashed with Course of Freedom party leader Zoe Konstantopoulou during a parliamentary committee meeting in Athens.
Addressing the Production and Trade Committee during a debate on natural disaster relief legislation, Tournas reported that Greece faced more than 3,150 wildfires this summer, with 900 outbreaks occurring in August alone.
Tournas acknowledged that a wildfire in the coastal area of Porto Germeno could have escalated into a tragedy similar to the 2018 Mati fire due to severe weather conditions, local terrain, and a limited road network.
He detailed that the Porto Germeno blaze began at 09:04 in an impassable location set between two mountains with only one entry and exit road. Emergency officials issued a 112 preventive evacuation alert at 09:37.
According to Tournas, approximately 300,000 stremmata of land have burned in Greece this season. In comparison, he noted that burned areas reached three million stremmata in Spain and one million stremmata in France.
Defending the government response, Tournas stated that authorities established a unified civil protection mechanism that did not exist in 2019, coordinating the Fire Service, Armed Forces, security forces, forest services, and volunteers.
Parliamentary Dispute Over Wildfire Record
The committee session grew heated when Konstantopoulou accused the minister of holding a negative record for fatalities and destroyed land, asking whether he was satisfied with nine dead and if he felt shame over the outcome.
Konstantopoulou claimed that recent wildfires originated from wind turbines installed in affected areas. Tournas appealed to the committee chairman, stating he was being subjected to systematic bullying, to which Konstantopoulou asked if that was what he was taught in the military.
Tournas denied that wind turbines caused the fires, saying they supply cheap green energy and create useful access roads. He identified energy transmission networks as the primary hazard, noting that summer winds provide cooling but also create operational problems.
Dispute Over Arson and Emergency Response
Tournas remarked that officials never claimed to be magicians who could stop fires by magic. He argued that state effectiveness must be judged by the millions of stremmata saved and the human lives protected by the coordination mechanism.
The minister said public debate should focus on arsonists who start fires through negligence or intent, adding that he expected widespread condemnation of arson. He stated that Greece is the only country in the world where people target emergency workers attempting to save property.
Konstantopoulou rejected the minister statement, responding that arson is a criminal offense and noting that her party voted in favor of the legislation penalizing it.
