Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission President expressed the EU’s solidarity with the people of the villages struck by the devastating fire that ravaged the mountainous region of Larnaca and Limassol over the weekend.
Accompanied by the Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades, von der Leyen who is visiting Cyprus, visited Ora, one of the villages hit by the devastating fire.
She said she is visiting with a “heavy heart” due to the death of four persons in the fire and the devastation of properties and the forest and added she is “full of respect” for the fire fighters of the Fire Service and the Department of Forests fire fighters who worked day and night to contain the fire.
“And now that you have been able to contain these horrible fires and you have been able to contain this catastrophe it is also time to look forward with hope and confidence that you can restore the forest and build up again what you have lost and therefore let me say that your worries are our worries in the European family, your strength is our strength in the EU family and the solidarity that I see here in this community is complemented by our solidarity as the European family,” she added.
She also said that the Cyprus National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the approval of which will be announced tomorrow, allocates €18 million for equipment for fire fighters.
On his part, President Anastasiades said Von der Leyen’s visit to Ora proves the importance given by the EU to problems facing its member states.
Anastasiades referred to the financial aid package approved by the government today to support the reinvigoration both of Ora and the region.
He assured that “the government is doing its utmost to receive support through the EU’s solidarity fund so that the EU will support through specific aid and specific programmes to bring back what we were living before Saturday’s fire”