Mitsotakis: More than 3 billion for the reconstruction of Thessaly

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday visited Farkadona's 1st primary school, after attending a meeting at the town hall to discuss the efforts underway for the reconstruction of the area following the 2023 floods. These are part of a greater plan for the reconstruction of Thessaly envisaging spending and investments amount to 3.0 billion euros.

The meeting also examined more targeted state aid measures, such as the payment of 182.7 million euros in initial aid to 50,500 beneficiaries, or the payment of 237.7 million euros to local authorities, especially support for businesses in the Palama and Farkadona municipalities.

In a statement at the meeting, Mitsotakis thanked those present for the invitation to attend the meeting coinciding with the first anniversary since the disastrous floods that hit the area, which e said was the "biggest natural disaster linked to climate change to have ever stricken our country."

Praising the "creative approach" adopted by local citizens in response to the disaster, he stressed that "such an ambitious plan could not be implemented without the support of local communities."

Mitsotakis also praised the handling of the sheep and goal plague, calling it exemplary, while referring to the 3.0 billion euros allocated to provide support to the region and for the major infrastructure projects approved by the finance ministry.

"This is the cost of this great natural disaster. It will increase because we have not yet included the major projects and the financing of the construction of the big dams of which we will speak this afternoon. But these are, in any case, projects that we would have to carry out for Thessaly in any case," he said.

Mitsotakis stressed that things would have been much more difficult if this natural disaster had not struck at a time when the Greek economy was in a "phase of growth and fiscal stability".

Earlier, the prime minister had visited the Hellenic Cadastre Office in Larisa, where he was briefed by Digital Governance Minister Dimitris Papastergiou and Deputy Minister Konstantinos Kyranakis on the capability of the office, which was relocated to a new building a month ago and had been given a complete overhaul, using AI to increase productivity.