As devastating wildfires continue to ravage Southern Europe, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and the Communist Party of the Workers of Spain (PCTE) have sharply condemned their respective bourgeois governments, arguing that the repeated destruction is not merely the result of extreme weather conditions but of policies that systematically leave public fire protection services understaffed, underfunded and unprepared.
The criticism comes as Greece and Spain are among the countries hardest hit by this year's catastrophic wildfire season.
In Greece, the KKE accused Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of cynically calling for "trust in the Fire Service" while his government has systematically left it stripped of the personnel, equipment and infrastructure necessary to prevent and combat large-scale fires.
The Party stressed that the heroism and self-sacrifice of firefighters cannot conceal the long-standing policy of understaffing, fragmented civil protection and the absence of comprehensive forest management and prevention measures. It argued that every summer exposes the consequences of treating fire protection as a cost rather than a social necessity, demanding the immediate reinforcement of the Fire Service with permanent personnel, modern equipment, effective prevention planning throughout the year, and full compensation for those affected.
Likewise, the PCTE expressed its solidarity with the victims of the devastating wildfires in the Madrid region and with the firefighters, forest brigades, healthcare workers, Civil Protection personnel and all public-sector workers battling the flames under extremely difficult conditions.
Likewise, the PCTE expressed its solidarity with the victims of the devastating wildfires in the Madrid region and with the firefighters, forest brigades, healthcare workers, Civil Protection personnel and all public-sector workers battling the flames under extremely difficult conditions.
While acknowledging that extreme weather has intensified the fires, the Party insisted that their catastrophic impact is the result of decades of neglected forest management, insufficient investment in prevention and territorial planning subordinated to profitability. It called for year-round strengthening of public forest management and firefighting services with stable staffing, sufficient resources and public ownership, while insisting that the recovery of the affected areas must serve the collective interest rather than private profit and that no affected family should be left without support.
Both communist parties underlined that the recurring wildfire disasters expose the contradictions of capitalist management, where prevention is neglected until catastrophe strikes and public services are treated as expendable costs rather than essential social needs. Their interventions stand in sharp contrast to the attempts of bourgeois governments to present these tragedies as unavoidable "natural disasters," while refusing to address the structural shortcomings that leave workers and local communities increasingly vulnerable.