00:00Executive Vice President Teresa Rivera, thank you so much for joining us on Euronews at this very critical week.
00:06We have seen devastating fires in France and Spain.
00:09You are in Madrid, on the ground.
00:11What assessment do you make of the situation?
00:13The situation is complicated, but everybody is working hard to ensure that we can control these wildfires.
00:21Now we've got an additional fire, very important fire, very close to the border to Portugal.
00:27Well, very important wildfires in Greece and Creta.
00:31So we know that this is a very worrying threat for the Europeans, for Europe, for our infrastructure.
00:38And we want to send a deep message of condolence and support to the victims in Los Gallardos, in France,
00:49in Spain, Madrid.
00:51But also for those relatives and friends that lost their beloved people.
00:57And as you say, there's been an enormous damage to land, but also people that have lost their lives.
01:03And we've seen, in some cases, the biggest evacuation of civilians since the end of Second World War.
01:09When you see these numbers, what does that say to you?
01:12Is this now the reflection of a climate crisis?
01:15This heat, lack of humidity, different winds, new type of wildfires will be increasingly worsened because of the climate change.
01:24As it has always been the case, we know that we have to be ready for what is happening.
01:31And yes, the evacuations have been so impressive.
01:34I've seen pictures from my own home being sent by my daughters that show the smoke, the color of the
01:41sky.
01:42So threatening people that are living in the surroundings of urban areas.
01:49We know that this is something that we need to take into consideration on how we organize the land management,
01:57how we can pay attention to ensure that public awareness, that people do care about the warning messages that the
02:06institutions,
02:07the regulators, the scientists show to us, the protection civil professionals that tell us, be careful.
02:14And this is why I'm so deeply worried when I hear people holding institutional responsibilities downplaying the threat of climate
02:24change.
02:25Because it is like saying to someone that alcohol, drinking whiskey is not connected to road safety.
02:33It is stupid.
02:35Yes, we know that climate change is happening.
02:38And we know that the extreme events, the extreme temperatures, the extreme heat is going to drive much more dangerous
02:44context.
02:45We need to be fully aware.
02:47So to be able to prevent and to react, to protect our people, to ensure that we can build resilience
02:54instead of downplaying the threats,
02:57saying or spreading fake information that could lower the capacity of the society to be ready and to protect themselves.
03:09And Commissioner, you have some very strong words there.
03:13You say there are those who downplay the threat.
03:15Would you argue that those, and we hear increasingly political voices saying that perhaps climate has become a bit of
03:23a cult, a bit of a religion,
03:25would you argue they are responsible, this is negligence also, for everything that's happened this summer?
03:30I think this is such a stupid and irresponsible message.
03:34To me, the most similar example could be someone holding an institutional responsibility,
03:41saying that you can drink as much whiskey as you want and then drive because traffic accidents are not connected
03:49to alcohol,
03:50but to the state of the road or to the state of the car.
03:53Of course, there are many things that count, but we are fueling wildfires by fueling climate change,
04:01by fueling heat waves, by fueling different weather conditions,
04:06different climate systems that could be impacting and raising the level of danger of the wildfires
04:14that there have been existing in southern Europe for centuries, but now they are different.
04:21They are much more dangerous, and we need to pay attention,
04:23and they are happening not only in southern Europe, but in many other places in the rest of the continental
04:30Europe.
04:30Heat waves that reach 37, 40 degrees in northern Europe is not normal.
04:38It's not something that is, we have always experienced heat.
04:41It is something very different.
04:43We know that you have dedicated a big part of your life to climate action,
04:47that this is a cause that you deeply believe.
04:49But you are now, in 2026, one of the few voices within this commission
04:54that still says climate should be at the forefront.
04:57Is it time to rebalance the priorities of this commission?
05:01This summer should be a wake-up call to rebalance.
05:05Well, I've always heard the president of the College of Commissioners stating that
05:10if we do not address climate change threats, we will have nothing to fight for in the time to come.
05:17So it is very convincing, as it is the whole theme in the commission.
05:21It is at the very same truth that we have lots of new parliamentarians in the European Parliament,
05:29political families at national politics that are very vocal against climate science, against climate action.
05:38And I think that this is so, so dangerous because they are lying to the people.
05:44So I think that instead of fighting against each other because of science,
05:50we should be thinking how to solve the problems.
05:53Because I think that the most important thing for any average citizen is to identify clear explanations that make sense,
06:01but also come up with solutions, with proposals that even if they are challenging, complicated,
06:07we need to fix things differently, we become credible in how to handle these priorities.
06:15And yes, I think that this is an issue dealing with competitiveness,
06:19but it is an issue dealing with security, and it is an issue dealing with performance of our infrastructures,
06:25whether it is energy infrastructures, whether it is road transportation or railway stations,
06:30or hospitals being able to host people that are ill and could not survive 37 degrees in a building.
06:38Just because we're running out of time, just to that point, there's been a big effort to,
06:42in some ways, relax some of the rules when it comes to green,
06:45and the industry definitely wants to move in that direction.
06:48Is this now a moment to say, let's just stop it?
06:52This summer is a reminder of that. It should be a reminder now.
06:55I think that it would be fantastic to have simple rules, but what we cannot give up is in the
07:01protection,
07:02the context, the creation of the conditions to become consistent when thinking about climate threats and green economy.
07:11And there's been inconsistencies? That's what you're hinting at?
07:13Well, I think that we can still have a great potential ahead of us to ensure that we provide the
07:20right answers,
07:21but providing the right answers is not just getting rid of everything that has been building,
07:26these green routes to keep on building the prosperity.
07:29We need to earn, we need to gain our future economy and the comfort of the society,
07:35and that doesn't go through going back to the, let's call it informally, wild west,
07:41anyone willing to do whatever,
07:44and anyone being absent of any type of responsibility in transforming the society.
07:50Well, Executive Vice President Teresa Rivera, thank you so much for joining us on Euronews for this important conversation.
07:56Appreciate it.
07:57Thanks a lot.
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