EU Agriculture Commissioner visits flooded Thessaly (video)

European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski on Thursday visited areas of Thessaly affected by the flooding caused by the destructive storms, Daniel and Elias.

Following an invitation by Rural Development and Foods Minister Lefteris Avgenakis, Wojciechowski flew with a helicopter over the flooded areas in Thessaly, visited farms and talked with flood victims.

Commissioner Wojciechowski saw with his own eyes the damages or part of them as the area is largely still underwater, a month after the first storm.

Video:

Before the first stop on his tour, in Prodromos, Karditsa, the commissioner and Avgenakis flew over the flooded plains of Farkadona, Keramidi, Koskina and Palamas, as well as Lake Karla. The commissioner also visited cotton farms, where the damage was absolute.

“The destruction goes beyond what I had imagined and all I had seen in the photographs that were shown to me,” Wojciechowski said, adding that Avgenakis and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had taken immediate action to mobilize the EU.

“I will do whatever is in my power to secure very available resource. I am at your side,” he added, addressing the farmers.

The commissioner’s next visit was to a greenhouse in Farsala, which also suffered total damage from debris carried by the flooded river,

Minister Avgenakis noted that the challenge was to find ways to ensure the compensation approached the actual value of the lost produce.

The first horizontal measures for the support of farmers are to be announced on Thursday and made more specific in conferences organized by the rural development ministry the following week.