EU Unveils Heatwave Plan and Firefighting Fleet After Deadly Summer

The European Union must build new tools to cope with a worsening climate, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday, unveiling plans for a European Heatwave Plan and a future EU firefighting fleet of aircraft.

Speaking during her annual State of the European Union address in Strasbourg, von der Leyen described a summer that dried up rivers and caused deaths across the bloc from Portugal to Hungary. "This summer was the summer of truth. Almost no part of our continent was spared," she said.

She pointed to the disappearance of key waterways such as the Danube, the Rhine and the La Garonne, and said more than 35,000 additional deaths occurred during the heat waves, with care homes and hospitals becoming dangerously overheated. That figure is triple the estimates of excess deaths recorded by monitoring groups in July.

According to a study by the World Weather Attribution group, the heat and humidity that broke numerous records this summer would not have been possible without climate change. Von der Leyen said the science is clear that Europe is warming at double the global rate, adding: "All of this is a mere preview. These were the hottest summer months ever, but probably the coolest of the years to come."

The EU currently operates a small fleet of its own but coordinates a network of aircraft, water trucks and volunteers that move across the 27-nation bloc as fires ignite. Von der Leyen said she has asked emergency responders and senior firefighters to "think bigger and learn faster" to design new capabilities for tackling climate instability.

Praising those who battled the blazes, she singled out a Danish helicopter pilot, Rune Kyndal, who died in August while fighting fires in Greece. The assembly erupted in applause as she said, "Rune gave his life to save others and today, all of Europe owes him."