EU help for fire-stricken areas
European Union officials yesterday provided assurances of ample financial support for the reconstruction of the areas of Greece devastated by recent forest fires. However, the officials, representing the Union’s structural funds and the Environment Directorate, made it clear at a broad meeting at the Economy Ministry – aimed at making an initial assessment of the situation – that the support would not come in the form of blank checks. The government has been urged to draft and submit comprehensive plans for reforestation, fire fighting, civil protection and reconstruction of the devastated areas. The EU officials suggested that the Greek side should seize the opportunity for an in-depth re-examination of all existing programs for forest protection. «I did not see adequate proposals regarding re-forestation programs,» said one official, referring to plans that had been submitted as part of the National Strategic Reference Framework (ESPA) before the recent catastrophic fires in the Peloponnese and Evia. «There has to be a re-examination of actions for civil protection,» said the representative of the European Social Fund. The Economy Ministry appeared to align itself with the recommendations, as officials said they are preparing to set up a body that will coordinate all the actions to be drafted by the various ministries and regional authorities in the context of ESPA and the EU-subsidized Third Community Support Framework (CSFIII). The majority of efforts will take the form of a Special Reconstruction and Development Plan (SRDP), the targets of which were presented at the meeting yesterday. The ministry is aiming for the comprehensive plan to be completed by the end of 2009, in line with a Greek request for an extension by one year of the deadline for absorption of all funds under CSFIII. It appears that the request has already been approved at a political level, in view of the enormity of the calamity. «Our basic priority is the immediate approval of the ESPA, so as to secure the advance payment of -400 million during 2007. All necessary adjustments will be made during 2008,» said Costas Mousouroulis, the Economy Ministry’s secretary general for investments, who presented the plan. The basic targets of the SRDP focus on reconstruction of housing and basic infrastructure, compensation for incomes lost and restoration of all agricultural capital, including the retaining of some traditional crops but also the introduction of new competitive ones. Plans also provide for enhancement of the environment and the promotion of entrepreneurship, particularly in tourism.
