Pedro Sánchez announced that next Tuesday the Government of Spain will declare many of the territories affected by wildfires as areas under a civil protection emergency

La Granja, Cáceres

"This means that, once the fires are extinguished and we know what the economic impact is, the Government of Spain is committed to taking on the task of rebuilding, which will of course also be supported by resources from the General State Administration," the president asserted.

From the Advanced Command Post of La Granja, in Cáceres, and accompanied by the President of the Regional Government of Extremadura, María Guardiola; the Minister for Home Affairs, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and the Government Delegate in Extremadura, José Luis Quintana, the chief executive has reiterated that "the Civil Protection system and the Government of Spain have been at the disposal of the Regional Government of Extremadura right from the start to help them deal with this tragedy", and "we will continue to be at their disposal until the fire is extinguished and to tackle the task of rebuilding", as is the case in all the other affected territories.

Although the Spanish State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) has indicated that the heat wave has subsided, Sánchez pointed out that "difficult times are still ahead" and, in this sense, has asked citizens to "take extreme precautions" and "take care and pay attention to the recommendations issued by the institutions".

Spanish State Pact to tackle the climate emergency

In his statement to the media, the president stressed that every year the climate emergency worsens, its effects accelerate and become more recurrent, and he asked, "if this is the case, why don't we turn the climate emergency and policies relating to this into Spanish State policies".

He repeated what some residents of the area affected by the fires in Villablino (León) told him last Sunday about the need for the parties across the different institutions to "transcend the legislatures", to commit themselves and "turn tackling the climate emergency into a Spanish State policy" and not weaken the approach. He added that this is a task "that we have to do together with science, agriculture, livestock, in short, all those who have the knowledge to contribute and deal effectively" with this situation.

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, speaks with one of the members of the emergency response team | Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo

He announced that at the beginning of September he will propose "to the scientific community, to businesspeople, to trade unions, and also to regional, municipal and provincial institutions, and to society as a whole, a Spanish 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 Spanish State policies that commit all institutions and all governments. We will work with that ambition and that objective over the coming months and years", he assured.

Also, given the acceleration and worsening of the effects of climate change, particularly on the Iberian Peninsula, he also referred to the need to "readjust and resize our capacities not only in terms of 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", he added.

"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," he concluded.

Non official translation