Citizen protection minister resigns
Notis Mitarakis, in charge of police and coast guard, was on vacation while fires were raging
The wildfires that have scorched large tracts of land in the Greek islands and the mainland have also had a political victim, Citizen Protection Minister Notis Mitarakis.
Mitarakis, who used to be in charge of the country’s security forces, including the coast guard, submitted his resignation Friday for “personal reasons” and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis promptly accepted it.
Actually, what forced Mitarakis’ resignation was that “he was absent outside Athens while battles were being fought.”
Greek media, including Kathimerini and private TV channel Mega, had reported Mitarakis’ presence on a yacht off the island of Patmos on Thursday. He returned to Athens later that day.
While there had been other negative publicity surrounding Mitarakis – two of his announcements concerning the police were walked back by Mitsotakis himself – the latest episode sealed his fate.
Alternate Education Minister, in charge of sports, Yiannis Oikonomou, has replaced Mitarakis. MP Yiannis Vroutsis replaces Oikonomou.
The explosions that struck an air force ammunition depot near the town of Nea Anchialos, in the region of Thessaly, also led to the removal of the commander of the 111th Fight Wing. The commander is said to have recently assured his superiors of the good storage conditions.
Defense Minister Nikos Dendias ordered an investigation into the conditions that led to the fire engulfing the depot, the loss of precious munitions – including, reportedly, heavy bombs for F-16 fighters and radar-targeting missiles – and the need to move several of the 70 F-16s stationed in the air base to others.
Authorities have set up a 3-kilometer deep exclusion zone around the air base, while they investigate the incident.
The loss of so much important ordnance, even given that some of the destriyed mossiles were dated, stunned the civil and military authorities, who vowed to establish clearly who was responsible for what and use the findings to prevent a similar incident from happening. There was information that the depot was so heavily stocked that the fire-monitoring sensors could not function.
Deputy Defense Minister Nikos Hardalias, who has also served as Civil Protection chief, will tour military installations across the country to ensure that storage conditions are acceptable.
