The Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, announced this afternoon that he has asked the European Commission to locate the European hub for fighting fires in the Western Mediterranean on the island of Mallorca. At present, there is already an operations center of this nature operating in Cyprus that covers the Eastern Mediterranean.
Read more The start of the long heat wave brings forest fires back to Catalonia
In his statement after holding an audience with the King in Palma, the Prime Minister explained that “I have sent a letter to the President of the Commission to create a fire-fighting hub in the Western Mediterranean, which is the area we are in, to be located on the island of Mallorca, specifically at the Son Sant Joan air base.” The center will be specialized to strengthen the capacity for prevention and response to the large forest fires that affect southern Europe every summer.
He asks citizens to be extremely cautious in the face of the heat wave
The Prime Minister recalled the moment of special seriousness due to the fire season that Spain is experiencing, which currently counts 10 fires. According to him, during the meeting with Felipe VI “the extreme fire situation” the country is going through and made a call for prudence in the face of the new heat wave.
“I want to ask citizens that, in the face of the new heat wave, we all exercise extreme caution and do not pay attention to hoaxes,” he stated. Sánchez recalled that ten forest fires remain active at this time, the latest declared in the province of Zamora, and described the scenario as a “critical and complex situation.”
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He points out that the pardon for Laura Borràs is the fulfillment of the TSJC ruling
He highlighted the good data from the Active Population Survey (EPA), which, in his view, reflects that economic growth continues to translate into intense creation of higher value-added employment. He emphasized that this behavior is especially visible in communities such as the Balearic Islands, where tourism continues to act as one of the main drivers of economic activity.
The Prime Minister also pointed out that during the meeting they analyzed the international situation, with special attention to the war in Ukraine, the conflict in the Middle East, and Ibero-American politics, as well as the summit scheduled in Madrid next October.
Asked about the partial pardon granted to the former president of the Parliament of Catalonia Laura Borràs, Sánchez rejected any link with budget negotiations and defended that the decision responds exclusively to the fulfillment of a judicial resolution. “To be precise, it is a partial pardon,” he explained. As he recalled, the High Court of Justice of Catalonia considered that the prison sentence imposed was excessive, maintaining the conviction for embezzlement but proposing to review the custodial sentence. “We comply with the sentence and it has nothing to do with budget negotiations,” the Prime Minister concluded.
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