The PSOE reiterated this Wednesday that the autonomous communities (CCAA) are the administrations responsible for the prevention, surveillance, and extinction of forest fires, while the central Government "collaborates, coordinates, and provides extraordinary means." Nevertheless, the socialists do not reject the appearance of the third vice president and minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), Sara Aagesen.
This position was expressed by the PSOE spokesperson in the Permanent Deputation of the Congress of Deputies, Manuel Arribas, during a debate in which the Popular Group demanded the presence of Aagesen to address the situation of the fires. In any case, the minister herself has already requested to appear in the Lower House.
From the PP, they have questioned why the Executive does not adopt the necessary decisions to face climate change when it "repeats time and again that the danger of fires is worsening year by year; Vox has spoken of "ecofanaticism" and Sumar has emphasized that fire "does not distinguish between ideologies."
In his speech, Arribas emphasized that "if a fire starts in August, it must be paid for many months in advance." He highlighted, among other aspects, that "the budget items aimed at prevention, professional teams, and extinction means must be executed."
"While it was burning, the Junta of Castilla and León kept 127 million euros unexecuted in territorial investment and programs related to the prevention and extinction of fires, and in the year 2025 they left another 28 million euros unexecuted," the socialist spokesperson reproached.
For his part, the PP spokesperson Eduardo Carazo Hermoso described the State Pact against Climate Emergency as "pure smoke" and criticized that the Government has not "specified" actions "beyond a list of climate shelters to avoid heat." In his opinion, aerial resources "remain insufficient and outdated."
"The planes contracted in 2024 still have not arrived. And the Secretary of State (for the Environment, Hugo Morán) himself admitted that of the 14 water bombers available to the State, only ten have been available to the autonomous communities because four planes were out of order," he pointed out, also questioning why the Government does not increase aerial means or have them ready for the summer campaign.
Carazo has also recalled that at the beginning of August, the PP registered a bill with 50 measures to strengthen fire prevention, among them "reducing bureaucracy" so that neighbors and municipalities can clean the mountain "without impediments" and "give life" to the rural environment through agricultural and livestock activity. "Probably those 50 measures will be heard. But we will carry them out from the Government in the next campaigns after the Spaniards vote," he stated.
Vox accuses the Government of "ecofanaticism" and criticizes European policies
The spokesperson for Vox, Ricardo Chamorro, has pointed out that official data from Ecological Transition "disprove" that climate change is the only responsible factor for the large waves of fires. "Those who start them are people 87% of the time. And what turns it into an unquenchable hell is the accumulation of fuel due to the abandonment of the territory and due to laws that prohibit or hinder cleaning the mountain and managing it," he maintained.
In his view, the large uncontrolled fires are "largely" due to the "ecofanaticism" of which this "mafioso" Executive would be an accomplice. He also pointed out that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the European Green Deal "turn fields and stubble into biomass mattresses" and criticized that the Forestry Law "turns into an infraction what was previously natural maintenance."
Chamorro has also denounced that, despite the delay, the Government has eliminated the commitment of the Recovery Plan that provided for ten modernized planes by June 2026. "A400M and Chinese helicopters were also announced that were also going to help in the extinction of fires that have not arrived," he recalled, demanding "national cohesion, active management of the mountain, grazing, cleaning, firebreaks, and real means."
Sumar demands a great climate pact and more prevention means
The spokesperson for Sumar, Lander Martínez Hierro, has reproached the PP for its regional government agreements with Vox, "who call climate fanaticism the scientific evidence." He insisted that fire "does not distinguish between ideologies, but the response to this emergency is indeed a political choice, between protecting people or protecting a narrative."
In her opinion, "a State Pact against the Climate Emergency is needed" and she has called for strengthening aerial resources, having brigades throughout the year, and increasing preventive forest management, in addition to demanding that the regional authorities assume their role in fire management without resorting to "lies." "We will always stand by science, by the people, and by those who risk their lives paying for what others with their speeches help to ignite," she added.
The general secretary of Podemos, Ione Belarra, has reproached the Executive for not having "done their homework" against "real estate voracity," which she has pointed out as one of the main "adversaries" in the fight against fires. She has also criticized that, instead of allocating more resources to prevention, "money is being spent on the largest rearmament in the history of this country."
"Just yesterday, with malice and premeditation, they have invested 5.4 billion euros in a new military plan with Poland. Ladies and gentlemen, what are you doing?" Belarra has asked.
Junts and ERC claim regional competencies in emergencies
The spokespersons of the Catalan parties have shown their support for Aagesen to appear and have defended that the management of emergencies corresponds to the autonomous communities. The representative of Junts, Marta Madrenas, has emphasized that her party will not accept a reduction of competencies "and less in a system like the Catalan emergency system which is absolutely exemplary."
The spokesperson for ERC, Teresa Jordà, has announced that her group will not enter into the "competition" of the PP to see who promotes more extraordinary appearances nor in the attempt to "turn an environmental tragedy, of first order, into a political headline." "If you really want to talk about fires, then let's talk about it, because talking about fires (...) is talking about climate change," she concluded.