Kostas Arvanitis, the vice president of the Left and a Member of the European Parliament representing SYRIZA, has issued a call for immediate political action to address the increasing occurrences of extreme weather events across Europe. These severe weather conditions are notably impacting regions from Portugal and southern Italy to Malta and Greece, highlighting the urgency of addressing climate-related issues at a policy level. His comments were spurred by the alarming emergency situation in the Evros region of Greece, stressing the need for collective European efforts to combat these challenges.

During the last plenary session in Strasbourg, Arvanitis emphasized that the existing political approaches are insufficient and that there must be a prompt shift in strategy to enhance public infrastructure resilience. He proposed the establishment of a permanent European mechanism for immediate assistance, increased support for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) with climate reserves for immediate compensation to farmers, as well as a unified forecasting system for early warning of floods and wildfires. These measures are essential for building a more robust response to climate threats across Europe.

Arvanitis further accentuated the impact of climate change as a consequence of the political decisions influenced by aggressive capitalist systems, indicating that the current policies are exacerbating the problem rather than resolving it. He argues that without a significant transformation in political ideology and action, we risk facing even more dire consequences from climate change in the near future, reinforcing the necessity for immediate and systemic change.