The Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection has accused the President and officials of SYRIZA of deliberate and complete distortion of the truth, responding to comments by Kasselakis, who claimed that absorption of the civil protection programs from the Recovery Fund is only at 1%.
In a statement, the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection provided the following details about the AIGIS program:
- The total budget for AIGIS is 2.1 billion euros, with funding sources including:
- The Recovery Fund
- The European Investment Bank
- ESIF (European Structural and Investment Funds)
- To date, projects valued at 1,693,467,703 euros, or 82% of the total AIGIS budget, have been tendered. The remaining 18% is expected to be tendered by the end of the year.
- 23% of the tendered projects, amounting to 480,013,664 euros, have been contracted and are now at the payment stage. For example, a down payment of approximately 100 million euros for the purchase of 7 Canadair aircraft will be made next month.
- Projects ready for contracting amount to 95,042,065 euros, or 5% of the total AIGIS budget.
The Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection has made significant efforts to overcome various bureaucratic obstacles and has largely completed the tendering process within one year. The AIGIS projects are progressing rapidly, and by 2025, Greece will begin receiving equipment for disaster prevention and response.
A full and detailed public presentation of the AIGIS program was made on April 24, 2024, and all data on procurement and projects is available here: AIGIS.pdf.
Thus, the “lack of information” does not justify the deliberate distortion of facts by the President and officials of SYRIZA. Just as they overlooked the 20 aerial vehicles, they also overlooked the 1.7 billion euros in tenders.
