Statement by the president of the Government of Spain at the end of his visit to the advanced command post in Jarilla (Cáceres)

Jarilla (Cáceres)

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF SPAIN, PEDRO SÁNCHEZ

Thank you very much, Madam President. Thank you, minister. Thanks also to the president of the Assembly of Extremadura, to the Government Delegate, to all the authorities present here.

I would first of all like to join President Guardiola in acknowledging the media for the public service news work they are doing during these difficult days throughout Spain and also particularly in Extremadura. I believe that the work done by the media is very important, because they provide peace of mind, information and knowledge so that our neighbours, in this case in Extremadura, know exactly how the tragedy we are experiencing is evolving.

First of all, I would like to remember those who have died in the fires that are ravaging our country, to express from the Spanish Government not only our empathy with their families, but also our full commitment to those victims who are recovering, so that the shared desire of all the institutions for their speedy recovery becomes a reality.

And finally, I would like to say that, on 26 August, the Government will declare many of the areas that are currently suffering from these fires to be areas affected by a civil protection emergency. This means the commitment of the Government of Spain to tackle, once they are extinguished and we know the economic impact on each and every one of the pockets of the residents of the affected municipalities, the task of reconstruction, which will logically also be accompanied by the resources of the General State Administration.

I say this whenever there is an emergency of this kind. I said it, for example, in Valencia. I also said it two days ago in Castilla y León and in Galicia. The state is all of us. The state is all of us. We are, of course, the UME, we are the entire Civil Protection System, we are also the local police, we are also all the forestry brigades that the different autonomous communities may have, as well as, logically, the Ministry of Ecological Transition.

Some time ago, at the Conference of Autonomous Community Presidents held on the island of La Palma, as a result of the volcano eruption, all the Autonomous Communities and the Government of Spain, together with the local entities, agreed to strengthen our Civil Protection System. And indeed, as the president said earlier, thanks to the Minister for Home Affairs, who is in charge of coordinating this civil protection work, we have been able to channel the entire national response mechanism and, therefore, materialise the solidarity of other autonomous communities with the affected areas, with the affected territories, as has been the case in Extremadura. We have also been able to activate the European Civil Protection Mechanism, which is allowing us to deploy not only cash here, but also resources from other parts of Europe.

And this shows that, in the face of a crisis of these characteristics, institutional loyalty, the desire for shared collaboration, solidarity between territories and also between countries, is fundamental and a priority in order to be able to firstly contain and then extinguish these fires.

I want you to know, president, that from the very first moment, the Civil Protection System and the Government of Spain have been available to the Government of the Junta de Extremadura to deal with this calamity and this tragedy. And we will continue to do so, we will continue to do so until the fire is extinguished and we will continue to do so with the affected territories in the task of reconstruction.

AEMET (Spanish weather agency) tells us that the heatwave that has ravaged Spain - and on which I will reflect later - seems to be coming to an end and that temperatures are dropping. We can see in different parts of Spain, hopefully soon also here in Extremadura, an increase in humidity. Let's see if we can control, if these winds can be controlled by the weather and, therefore, we can have better weather conditions to be able to tackle this fire.

But I was saying this because there are still difficult hours ahead, and therefore I ask the media, and also the citizens who are following us at this press conference, to take extreme precautions, not to be overconfident, that there are still critical moments ahead, that there are still difficult hours ahead, and therefore to pay attention and remain attentive to the recommendations of the institutions, be it the Civil Guard or the Civil Protection System as a whole.

I was saying before that AEMET said yesterday was the last day of the heat wave that has ravaged our country. There are 16 days; 16 days of heatwave that Spain has suffered and that, according to historical records, is the third longest heatwave since records began. For the benefit of those citizens who are following this hearing, this has been the case since 1975.

What does this mean? This means that regardless of the cause of the fires, it is clear, as science tells us, as common sense tells us, especially among farmers and livestock farmers, among those who live in rural areas, that the climate is changing, that the climatic emergency is worsening, that it is becoming more recurrent, more frequent and is having an increasingly greater impact and that, therefore, in the face of fires, damage and all the inclemencies caused by climatic emergencies, there is only one response: institutional unity. Institutional unity. And this institutional unity is based on institutional loyalty, on co-responsibility, on the consistency of the policies that are implemented and on the economic resources that are deployed in order to be able to face this new reality of the climate emergency.

We are not only talking about responding to fires and droughts when they occur, but also about preparing the territories so that, when these climate emergencies occur, we are better equipped with mechanisms, tools and preparation, in short, to minimise their impact. Every year the climate emergency worsens. Each year it is more recurrent and each year the effects of this climatic emergency are accelerating.

And so I ask myself: if this is the case, why don't we turn the climate emergency and its policies into state policies? Two days ago, in some meetings I had with some of the neighbours affected in Villablino, in León, with a fire that was also dramatic, they said to me: to the political parties that are in the different institutions, transcend the legislatures, commit yourselves to climate emergency policies that transcend the four years, that turn the climate emergency into a State policy, so that while this climate emergency is worsening we are not seeing how climate policies are weakening, that we have to work together - of course we do - science, agriculture, livestock, in short, all those who have the knowledge to contribute and deal with this climate emergency in an effective way.

Over the last seven years, the Government of Spain has been strengthening each and every one of the pillars of civil protection, for example, the Emergency Unit, the UME. In fact, in the state plan that we approved a few months ago to increase defence and security spending to 2% of Gross Domestic Product, one of the main pillars is to continue to increase the resources and the unit of troops of the UME to deal with emergencies and civil protection.

Well, that is the Government of Spain's approach. At the beginning of September, I will propose to the scientific community, the business community, the trade unions, the regional, municipal and provincial institutions and society as a whole, a State pact to deal with the climate emergency.

Because if the climate emergency worsens year after year, what we have to do is to transcend legislatures and turn climate emergency policies into State policies that commit all institutions and all governments. With that ambition and with that objective in mind, we will be working over the coming months and years. Of course, it is consistent with what we have been doing over the last seven years, but also recognising with humility that all the forecasts made by science that the climate emergency was going to evolve in one way, we are seeing that it is accelerating and worsening, particularly in the Iberian Peninsula, in a much more forceful way every year, and we have to readjust and resize our capacities, not only for response, but also for prevention.

The means are there, the means will be greater, but the competences are also delimited and clear, and we all have to get involved and commit ourselves to tackling this climate emergency that does not obey any differences in ideologies, that affects all residents equally, regardless of who they vote for every four years, and who we all serve from our institutions.

Therefore, maximum collaboration, maximum empathy, maximum recognition for each and every one of the workers in the Civil Protection System, but also maximum commitment, because we are facing a reality that is increasingly overwhelming us and which we unfortunately have to face with greater resources, greater empathy and greater commitment.

That is what I want to convey to the public, this firm will on the part of the Government of Spain to guide all institutions and society as a whole in tackling a climate emergency that affects us all, particularly the countryside, and which requires a response that is proportionate to the scale of the challenge that lies ahead of us.

And, again, thank-you to the media for the work they are doing.

(Transcript edited by the State Secretariat for Communication)