Greece: defenceless against the snow?
Greece's government has declared Tuesday, January 25, a public holiday in six regions due to heavy snowfall. Schools are closed and citizens have been advised not to leave home. The announcement came after traffic broke down in Athens and many drivers were left stranded on motorways. The country's media have a sense of déjà vu.
Government letting citizens down again
This chaos could have been prevented, News247 criticises:
“When there are fires, citizens burn, when it rains, citizens are flooded out, and when it snows, the state leaves citizens waiting on closed roads until the snow melts. ... Once they get over their bewilderment the drivers go home and calm down, and then of course the familiar rhetoric about extreme phenomena that we have never seen in this country begins. The same thing happened with floods and fires. ... Funnily enough, all these unprecedented phenomena only occur under the Mitsotakis government.”
The time for excuses is over
Journalist Kostas Giannakidis has also lost patience with the government. He writes in Protagon:
“Yes, we say it every year, the country doesn't know how to deal with the snow, it lacks the right infrastructure. ... But since we say it every year, it means that the current events are nothing new. And once again part of the state apparatus was resting under the snow. What should have been done? Well now we've reached a point where we're no longer interested in the answer. ... In the end, someone should get on their knees, apologise and say something to those who have suffered. And please don't talk about climate change and unprecedented events or you'll get a snowball in your face.”