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Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-07-04
CONTENTS
[01] PM briefed by Justice Minister; inner Cabinet focus on wildfires
[01] PM briefed by Justice Minister; inner Cabinet focus on wildfires
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis on Wednesday was briefed by Justice
Minister Anastasis Papaligouras a day after the Inner Cabinet, chaired
by the premier, discussed measures for resolving problems caused by the
recent spate of devastating forest fires throughout the country.
Environment, town planning and public works Minister George Souflias,
who the cabinet decided will assume the role of coordinator, told
reporters after the meeting that the first step was to map out the
destroyed regions, reforestation, in tandem with anti-flooding and
anti-erosion projects.
Souflias said that the anti-flooding and anti-erosion works needed to
be completed by end-September, before the rainy season commenced, while
reforestation would begin in November and should be completed by
February.
Replying to questions, Souflias said that he backed public order
minister Vyron Polydoras, adding that there was no political blame for
the outcome of the fires, although there may be operational
responsibilities.
Interior minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos stressed that the government's
decision was that "where there was forest, it will remain forest",
adding that the government was determined not to allow a repetition of
the "phenomena of the past" where villas would spring up in land that
was officially designated as forest.
Caption: ANA-MPA file photo of Karamanlis.
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