“SYRIZA is unable to understand how the European Civil Protection Mechanism works,” stresses ND and EPP MEP Fredi Beleris in a post, following a statement by the Press Office of SYRIZA-PS.

He also notes that “it is regrettable that the party’s Press Office chooses to speculate on the anguish of the members of the Greek ethnic minority” of Albania, stressing that “as for whether I have something to ‘contribute’ to my compatriots, I leave it to their own judgment and not to those who remember them only to reap petty political benefits”.

Mr Beleri’s post reads as follows: “It’s amazing how @syriza_gr after 5 years of -disastrous- governance, still fails to understand how the European Civil Protection Mechanism works. This Mechanism never transfers firefighting aircraft from a country facing high risk winds and fires over a large part of its territory to a foreign country. On the contrary, solidarity always comes from states that are not threatened by severe phenomena. The aircraft operating in Albania do come from Sweden, but they are on a European mission.

At the same time, it is regrettable that the party’s Press Office chooses to speculate on the anguish of members of the Greek ethnic minority.

Now, as far as I am concerned personally, I want to inform @syriza_gr that yesterday I was in the villages around which the fire fronts are developing, while at the same time I reported in my post how the European Civil Protection Mechanism is working.

As for whether I have something to “contribute” to my compatriots, I leave it to their own judgment and not to those who remember them only to gain petty political benefits.”