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Speech by M. Nicolas SARKOZY, President of the Republic, to the "securite civile" (emergency services) personnel sent to reinforce their Greek counterparts – excerpts -

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Paris, 5 September 2007

(···) When, on 23 August, the Greek Prime Minister requested the assistance of France and the other [EU] countries to help deal with the extremely serious crisis his country was confronting, the decision to send emergency teams was taken immediately and I thank Michèle Alliot-Marie for doing this. But such a decision is never taken without a certain degree of apprehension, since you appreciate the risks to which you are exposing the personnel involved. Operating abroad in that way isn't the same as operating in your own country, the one you know, with a well-oiled logistic machine behind you. (···)

But it was France's duty to be one of the very first countries to respond to this appeal with significant firefighting planes and brigades.

So, first of all, let me tell you that we're happy to see you all again in good shape, there were no accidents, in itself a source of great satisfaction.

But you also demonstrated great professionalism. (···)

EU EMERGENCY RESPONSE

The scale and violence of the fires which ravaged Greece have once again shown the limits of the resources one country can mobilize on its own in such exceptional circumstances. Such crises remind us of the urgent need for Europe to organize itself so that it can provide a massive operational response as soon as possible. Building on the discussions led by Michel Barnier, I should like the ongoing work on drawing up the new White Paper on national defence and security to come up with proposals to this end, proposals which could rapidly lead to a concrete initiative with our partners. Europe must give greater priority to the imperative need to protect its territory and peoples. (···)./.

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