Civil Protection cooperation agreement between Portugal and Greece Both countries will exchange experiences in preventing and fighting wildfires

The Portuguese Minister of Home Affairs, Eduardo Cabrita, claimed that Portugal and Greece will sign a cooperation agreement in the field of civil protection to share experiences in preventing and fighting wildfires.

Following the end of the meeting in Lisbon with the Greek Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Prevention, Christos Stylianides, Eduardo Cabrita added that the agreement on the memorandum of understanding and cooperation was completed and will be signed "as quickly as possible".

The exchange of experiences means that Portugal will offer Greece its experience over the last few years, and which contributed to "reducing the number of fires and area burnt".

Eduardo Cabrita also said that "Greece and Portugal have already showed their willingness to jointly acquire Canadair fire-fighting planes" at the European Union.

This agreement will allow "sharing a common purchase order, sharing aircraft that can be used throughout the European Union, and also offer better bargaining positions".

"We believe we will be able to negotiate better if this is done on a European scale and not Portugal or Greece negotiating individually for acquiring aircraft", he added.

Portugal and Greece are two Mediterranean countries affected by climate change and where we witness "a sometimes complex combination of large-scale wildfires with areas with a significant tourist presence".

"This justifies bilateral cooperation between our two countries" Eduardo Cabrita noted.