Large parts of Europe have been engulfed by an intense heatwave, with more than 135 million residents expected to face temperatures exceeding 35°C.
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AFP calculations show that temperatures above 35°C will particularly affect France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Spain ranks among the countries hardest hit by the heat, with temperatures expected to approach 40°C or rise above that level.
In the United Kingdom, temperatures have exceeded 37°C for the third time this year alone. The UK Met Office said that several monitoring stations recorded 37°C or higher on Thursday, including Kew Gardens in west London.
According to the British agency, before 2026, a temperature of at least 37°C had been recorded in the country only six times. This year alone, however, that level has already been reached on three occasions.
With the heat expected to continue, British authorities have extended the rare “extreme heat” warning across all of England.
The high temperatures have also increased the risk of wildfires and placed greater pressure on emergency services in several European countries.
In Greece, the situation has been exacerbated by strong winds sweeping through various areas, significantly increasing the risk of fires breaking out.
The National Observatory of Athens reported that wind speeds exceeded 100 km/h in some regions. The affected areas include Athens, the Aegean coast, Crete and parts of mainland Greece.
The combination of heat, drought and strong winds has placed the Attica region on high alert. As part of preventive measures, several of Athens’ well-known hills have been closed to visitors.
In France, representatives of professional firefighters’ unions met with Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez to discuss the needs of emergency services following the recent fires.
The unions raised concerns about insufficient staffing and resources, stressing that fire services cannot continue indefinitely to make up for shortcomings in the system.
After the meeting, union representatives said they were “very disappointed.” They called for broader mobilization and warned that a protest would be held in Paris at the end of September.
For his part, Minister Nuñez said that “the time for action has now come” and promised that talks with the unions would continue.
The effects of the heat and drought have also spread to the energy sector.
In Romania, Nuclearelectrica, the state-owned nuclear energy company, has begun the procedure for the complete shutdown of the Cernavodă nuclear power plant. The decision is linked to the significant and uninterrupted decline in the Danube’s water level.
Water from the river is used to cool the plant. One of the two reactors had already been shut down, and the second reactor must now also be taken offline.
Under normal conditions, the Cernavodă plant supplies around one-fifth of Romania’s electricity production.
To prevent a complete shutdown, the authorities had implemented several measures, including interventions to alter the flow of water. However, the continued decline in the Danube’s water level has made it impossible for the plant to continue operating normally.
