In contrast to what happened last summer, when the management of forest fires intensified the political clash between the central Executive and some autonomous communities governed by the Popular Party, such as Madrid or Castilla y León, Pedro Sánchez and the president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, both socialists, agreed this Wednesday on the importance of coordination and joint work between the different administrations, “shoulder to shoulder”, to fight against fire and the consequences of the climate emergency. The mayor of Tamajón (Guadalajara), Eugenio Esteban, of the PP, also thanked this collaboration between administrations during the visit that Sánchez and Page made to the advanced command post installed in this town to combat the La Mierla forest fire, which has already devastated more than 32,000 hectares and has become the largest in Castilla-La Mancha.
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Sánchez assured that “the entire State, all administrations, are working shoulder to shoulder against a common enemy, which are fires.” “Everyone against fire, that is the enemy we have to defeat,” warned the President of the Government. “It is very important that citizens are calm because they see cooperation between all administrations,” he stressed. But he regretted that “there are still people who question the climate emergency.”
In the same vein, the president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, who today put aside his political criticisms of Sánchez to row together in the same direction, stated: “From minute zero, technical and political coordination is key. And I find it edifying to say that all administrations have understood each other from the first moment, no one has discussed or raised any kind of political calculation,” he stressed. And he extended his gratitude not only to the central Executive but also to the regional governments of Madrid, La Rioja, Valencia, and Castilla y León, all led by the PP. “The coordination between the autonomous communities and with the State is being extraordinary,” he emphasized.
“Speeches that trivialize or deny climate change are dangerous, because they are part of the fuel for fires,” warns the president of Castilla-La Mancha
Page, however, launched a dart against climate denialism, in a veiled criticism of Vox. “Speeches that trivialize climate change, sideline it, or directly deny it, are legitimate, but they are dangerous, because they are part of the fuel for fires,” he warned. “Fighting climate change is not an option,” he assured.
And the mayor of Tamajón, Eugenio Esteban, also thanked the President of the Government for his “concern” and the “coordination” he has maintained with the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha, to have all possible means, “among the different administrations”, to combat fires.
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As last summer, however, Pedro Sánchez has once again called for a State pact against the climate emergency, which still does not find the support of the PP, much less that of the far-right Vox, which insists on denying climate change. “Spain needs a great agreement, a great State pact against the climate emergency,” demanded the President of the Government. “We cannot remember fires, or climate emergencies that lead to civil protection emergencies, only when they occur,” he warned. “We have to raise awareness among citizens, not trivialize the effects of the climate emergency, but take it very seriously. And that is not politics, it is not ideology, it is science, it is data,” he defended, in the face of heat waves exceeding 40 degrees Celsius in many parts of Spain.
“It is imperative that a State pact be reached between the different institutions and also in the Cortes Generales, to convert into laws and economic resources, measures that are fundamental to safeguard life, security and protect prosperity. I once again call on all political forces to put aside all partisan struggle and focus on a common enemy, which is the climate emergency,” Sánchez demanded. “I ask all political forces to unite, because the climate emergency kills,” he warned.
Sánchez thanked the residents of the areas affected by the fires for responding with “security, calm and trust in their institutions,” in the face of “hoaxes and disinformation” that spread through social networks during any emergency and which, in his opinion, “all they do is try to inoculate anxiety, hatred and distrust on the part of citizens in their institutions.” “Precisely it is the institutions that are guaranteeing their security and the survival of their municipalities,” he defended.
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