Greece Under Threat from Wildfires and Extreme Weather as Mitsotakis Warns of Exceptionally Difficult Days

Greece is among several European countries hit by devastating wildfires, whose spread has been fueled by heat waves and a lack of rainfall.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the country is facing “extreme weather conditions.” He warned that the coming days would be “exceptionally difficult” because of the numerous fires continuing to sweep across the country.

Mitsotakis said winds had reached speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour, making the safe use of firefighting aircraft impossible.

“There are times when the nature and intensity of weather phenomena exceed all human planning and operational capacity,” he wrote on Facebook.

Since mid-July, fires have also struck France, Spain and Portugal, forcing hundreds of thousands of residents to flee their homes.

Authorities in Madrid have described this year’s fires as the worst ever recorded in the region.

European Union data show that more than 200,000 hectares of land have burned across Spain in 2026, an area around five times larger than the average for the same period of the year.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron last week described the major fire that swept through the Gironde region as “completely unprecedented.”

The United Kingdom has also faced numerous wildfires.