Titled the phrase of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, «The climate crisis is here and if we ignore it the costs will be incalculable», the news agency Reuters published on Sunday (19/09) the second part of the Prime Minister's interview granted on the sidelines of the EUMED 9.
«I now want to use the term climate crisis, which is already here», the Prime Minister stressed, noting that «to deal with it, we need horizontal policies that essentially affect every aspect of our economic and social life». Reuters reports that the Greek prime minister has made action on climate change a central part of his administration and recalls that shortly after his election in 2019, from the podium of the UN General Assembly, committed to the closure of lignite units by 2028, and recently created a separate Ministry of Climate Change and Civil Protection.
«Here in the Mediterranean, we have 6,000 years of civilization behind us, but it is the duty of our generation to ensure that future generations continue to live, prosper and thrive,» Kyriakos Mitsotakis told Reuters on the sidelines of the EUMED 9 Summit.
«Mediterranean nations should lead the effort to respond to climate change.», he stressed, warning that if we ignore it, the cost of extreme weather events on a global scale will be «incalculable». «When we are faced with fires of such intensity, it is clear that we must change our way of acting and learn from our mistakes,» the prime minister said.
The Mediterranean hotspot for forest fires
The Agency also recalls that this summer, record high temperatures and fires have hit Greece, Spain, Cyprus and Turkey, among others, while scientists warn that the Mediterranean is becoming a hotspot for forest fires.
«We need to be very clear. The stakes are exactly that: If the worst-case scenarios are confirmed, then our planet will be inhospitable to the human species by the end of this century,» the prime minister pointed out, adding, thanks to the shift away from lignite, Greece has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 11 million tonnes.
A sustainable and fair recovery
In the same interview, Kyriakos Mitsotakis refers to the economy and sends a message to the country's middle class, stressing that he will continue the same policy he had described to Reuters before the 2019 elections: «I will give back to the middle class what Mr Tsipras has taken from it».
«I am convinced that the recovery will be sustainable and fair», the Prime Minister stressed, expressing «confidence in the full sustainability of the country's public finances». At the same time, he points out that this will happen through the growth of the economy «and not through the overtaxation of the middle class imposed by the previous government».
