Sara Aagesen speaks out on the increase in fires and a possible National Pact: "I always ask the PP to clarify which side it is on"

This same Wednesday, the first total solar eclipse in more than a century will occur in Spain, and therefore between 400,000 and 1.5 million displacements are expected, so the Government will deploy a special operation in which more than 24,000 Civil Guards will participate. Sara Aagesen, third vice-president and Minister for Ecological Transition, has been interviewed by Pablo Tallón on Hora 25 to talk about the eclipse and the fires affecting Spain.

The first question was about whether she would follow the eclipse from the Yebes Astronomical Observatory, to which she replied that she would see it further south, so she would not be able to see the eclipse in its entirety but would see it with her family. Next, she was asked about whether she fears that the large influx of citizens to the mountains will result in fires. Aagesen, in response, said: "What is certain is that we are talking about many displacements because it is a historic event and everyone wants to enjoy it and many of the locations are natural spaces, therefore coordination between all administrations, prevention and following many recommendations that we are insisting on are essential. We are talking about a day when there is a high, very high and extreme risk in a large part of the territory, therefore we are very concerned about fires."

Following the line of fires, she was asked if "Do we have to resign ourselves to this summer being the worst in history?". The minister replied by saying that, "the data leads us to say that at this moment it is the worst, we have started the fire season much earlier and the data supports that it is an especially dramatic year, there is still campaign left, hopefully the forecasts will not be met, but it points to the worst year in terms of fires."

The interviewer Pablo Tallón continued with the interview commenting that, "prevention and extinction are an autonomous competence, but I don't know if you have data on whether more prevention tasks have been done this year and whether Spain as a whole has more personnel..." To this Sara Aagesen replied: "The competence is autonomous, the State supports the communities and what we have done from the Government is to increase the budget for prevention to reinforce the work 365 days a year." In the same vein, she was asked if "there is any community that has failed in these matters." The minister commented that, "the autonomous communities have to be aware of their reality, diagnoses are fundamental, if you dimension the teams well, what you do is have better means and professionals with adequate resources, we need professionals 365 days a year and there are communities where they claim that this is not happening."

After this, the topic of whether a National Pact against the Climate Emergency would be necessary came up. "That political consensus does not exist and I would say something important, I always ask the PP to clarify which side it is on, is it on the side of science and civil society or is it on the side of denialism? What I have seen from the PP are two different positions, one in relation to fires where we are working in coordination to achieve the best outcome and on the other hand it joins governments with denialist parties, this is a lack of protection for the population."

Finally, she was asked about, "When was the last time you took the initiative in private conversations?" "From the first moment they have had that offer, we have had meetings with other parliamentary groups and they have not wanted to sit down. I hope they sit down, that the reality of a country like Spain and the reality of the great voices, I hope they join in to talk and contribute solutions," Aagesen concluded.

The Niebla fire in Huelva

The fire declared last Thursday in Niebla, Huelva, is still active today, although it is true that its advance has slowed down significantly. This fire has already exceeded 25,000 hectares burned, although the spread recorded this Tuesday has been half that of Monday and barely a quarter of what it presented three days ago, so no new municipality has had to be evacuated.

Aagesen has also been asked about this situation, to which she said: "We are facing a very complicated summer, it started very early, we are talking about the warmest summer since records exist, these are virulent fires with great intensity and the data confirm it, as of August 11 there are 226,000 hectares burned, since the beginning of the year we have seen 43 large forest fires. Tomorrow is a very special day, I call for prudence," she concluded.