2023-09-12 14:53:05
STRASBOURG, France (AP) — The European Union has promised Greece more than 2 billion euros ($2.15 billion) in financial assistance for recovery after wildfires and floods that have devastated large areas of the country.
“Never before has such a vast area been devastated by forest fires. And then the floods devastated large regions of Greece,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a meeting on Tuesday with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Von der Leyen announced that 2.25 billion euros will be provided in the short term, much of which will come from unclaimed funds for development and agricultural projects, mostly allocated for Greece.
“We must use unused money from the previous period, which would otherwise be wasted,” von der Leyen told reporters at the meeting in Strasbourg, France.
Much of Greece’s agricultural belt remained flooded a week after storms killed at least 15 people, while much of the country’s main road and rail route remained closed.
“I would first and foremost face the seriousness of the current situation. “Greece last month endured two natural disasters of historic proportions,” said Mitsotakis.
“The fire in the Evros region (near the border with Turkey) is the largest in all of European history… And we have had the worst floods in our history. “This is probably one of the most powerful storms to hit Europe,” he noted.
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