“Are you going to install air-conditioning to combat fires in farmers’ fields?” socialist MEP asks far-right peers
There were angry exchanges in European Parliament on Wednesday as lawmakers debated how to prepare for increasingly frequent and intense heatwaves and forest fires – just weeks after the continent experience its hottest June days on record.
Many recalled last year’s similarly record-breaking wildfire season, which saw over a million hectares of woodland and scrub turned to ashes. Yet the debate soon settled into a familiar exchange, with some political groups espousing positions that remain rigid despite the worsening situation.
“Climate change is accelerating, but our response remains too slow,” French liberal Gregory Allione, a former firefighter, said on Wednesday. “Nor can we choose between mitigation and adaptation.”
But that is precisely what some on the far-right were demanding, however.
