Pedro Sánchez announces the launch this Tuesday of the Interministerial Commission that will define the State Pact against the Climate Emergency

Advanced Command Post for the Somiedo and Cangas del Narcea fires, Asturias

The Chief Executive announced that next Tuesday, before the meeting of the Council of Ministers that will declare the areas affected by a civil protection emergency to be areas that have suffered fires, the Executive "is going to set up an Interministerial Commission to define the State Pact against the Climate Emergency that our country needs", proposed by the head of the Government, and which will be led by the third vice-president and minister of ecological transition, together with the Ministry of Home Affairs as the body responsible for civil protection.

Pedro Sánchez has also adopted the proposal of the President of the Principality of Asturias, Adrián Barbón, for the Conference of Presidents - to be held in this community before the end of the year - to be "an important part of this State Pact", in such a way "that all the regional presidents, all the town councils and provincial councils, join together with the Government of Spain, with the General State Administration, to define and implement all the policies related to prevention, response and subsequent reconstruction when this type of calamity occurs".

The Chief Executive has argued that "we have to resize and redefine all aspects related to mitigation and adaptation to climate change", and the institutions must do so together with society, "transcending legislatures", because we are all affected by the climate emergency, and the policies linked to combating it "are State policies" and we must all work together in the same direction.

This is what he said in the statement he made after visiting the Advanced Command Post (PMA) of the Somiedo and Cangas del Narcea fires, and holding a meeting with the heads of the emergency and coordination mechanisms. He was accompanied on this visit by the President of the Principality of Asturias, Adrián Barbón; the Third Vice-President of the Government of Spain and Minister for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Sara Aagesen; the Minister for Home Affairs, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and the Government Delegate in Asturias, Adriana Lastra.

Congratulations to the Director General of Civil Protection

Sánchez, who underlined the value "of the public sector" when it comes to providing effective tools and instruments to protect our fellow citizens and defend our territory, congratulated the Director General of Civil Protection, Virginia Barcones, "for her work during all these long days and nights when she has been on the front line".

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, and the President of the Principality of Asturias, Adrián Barbón, at the Advanced Command Post with the heads of the emergency and coordination units | Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo

The Government of Spain "has made available all the troops we have at our disposal," said the president, who highlighted the more than 3,400 UME troops, the 500 additional army personnel who joined the force, the more than 500 vehicles, the 6,000 Civil Guard and National Police personnel, the ten forest fire brigades led by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, among other capacities. All of this has been activated "thanks to the Directorate General for Civil Protection and the CECOD, the National Response Mechanism, where solidarity has effectively been exercised by other autonomous communities in the transfer of resources".

On the other hand, and in view of the declaration of areas affected by a civil protection disaster that the Council of Ministers will carry out next Tuesday, Pedro Sánchez has asked the Government sub-delegations and delegations and, above all, the mayors and neighbours of the areas affected by the fires, for as much information as possible as soon as possible to know exactly what the scale is and to be able to carry out the economic assessment of the catastrophe that we are suffering this month.

Non official translation