EU to Redouble Firefighting Capacity Amid Summer widespread Forest Fires – Von der Leyen

Strasbourg  – The European Union will buy 10 planes and three helicopters in a bid to redouble its firefighting capacity following large-scale summer forest fires, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.

“We will double our capacity for firefighting… Over the course of the coming year the EU will buy 10 light aircraft and three additional helicopters to complete its fleet,” von der Leyen said in her State of the Union address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Several European countries suffered extremely high temperatures over the summer period.