Fire alert: EU urges people to prepare for a high-risk summer

from our correspondent in Strasbourg – The EU is bracing itself for a summer marked by forest fire emergencies. A warning has come from Strasbourg regarding a situation that has now become structural and is likely to force Europeans to contend with wildfires once again. “2025 was a record year for the number of times the EU Civil Protection mechanism was activated, and it is likely that the situation could repeat itself this year”, admits Thomas Byrne, Minister for European Affairs of Ireland, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU. He sounds the alarm during the debate on heatwaves and the risk of wildfires. He stresses the link between the risk of wildfires and ongoing climate change: “We are the region of the world that is warming the most of all, and with worrying trends,” which see Europe “more exposed to droughts, heatwaves, floods, and extreme weather events.” 

“We’ve already set a record this year; we’ve already had heatwaves and the fire season has started earlier than usual, with two calls for assistance at the end of April and in May,” says the Commissioner for Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib. Meanwhile, Portugal and France have also requested assistance from the EU emergency response centre, further evidence of an already complicated situation.

When it comes to risk management, “Member States remain primarily responsible”, Lahbib emphasises, but she assures that the Commission is ready to “provide assistance and detect fires.” She also announced that, in the immediate future, she is working to “develop an information portal” to aid prevention, mitigation, and awareness-raising.

 The debate provides an opportunity for the Socialists to point the finger at the People’s Party (EPP): “She reminds the EPP and the false patriots of the far right that every attack on the Green Deal, every attempt to weaken the fight against deforestation, puts lives at risk,” says the chair of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group, Iratxe García Pérez, who argues that “every time the climate emergency is trivialised, it fuels inaction. And inaction kills”. It is an attack and a new criticism of the anti-sustainability alliances chosen by Europe’s leading centre-right party. 

The debate on this issue is entirely Spanish. Speaking on behalf of the EPP is Carmen Crespo Díaz, who attacks the Socialists and Pedro Sánchez’s government: “We have missed an opportunity with the NextGenerationEU funds, with countries such as mine failing to take advantage of these resources for prevention and fireproof measures.” On the contrary, “the procurement of fire-fighting aircraft has been scaled back in 2023,” she adds, in open criticism of the Spanish Socialist government.