The European Union should station two firefighting aircraft in Cyprus, Disy member of the European parliament Michalis Hadjipantela said on Monday.

In a press conference at European Union House in Nicosia, he said he would “request information” from the EU regarding the possibility of stationing aircraft on the island.

The EU had sent two Canadair firefighting aircraft from the bloc’s joint firefighting fleet, known as rescEU, from Spain, but Hadjipantela’s fellow Disy MEP Loucas Fourlas criticised the fact that due to the large distances involved, the aircraft had taken a long time to arrive on the scene.

“The geographical isolation of Cyprus makes it vulnerable and operationally cut off from the rest of the European civil protection mechanism, with the result that Cyprus is treated as a second-class member state by the union itself,” Fourlas said on Thursday.

He added, “the absence of a permanent, staffed, and reinforced rescEU base with aerial and ground firefighting assets in Cyprus leads to serious delays, with incalculable consequences for the natural environment and for human life.

“Cyprus is not just a member state; it is an external border of the European Union and is on the front line of the impacts of the climate crisis. For it to remain undefended constitutes institutional and political abandonment,” he said.

Hadjipantela also raised questions regarding the lack of utilisation of other EU mechanisms which have been used in the past to help fight wildfires on the continent, including EU forest firefighting squads, EU fire experts, and the use of EU satellites to deal with wildfires.

He said he would “request information on the EU regarding the possible use of these instruments by the Republic of Cyprus”, saying he believed Cyprus “did not use” what could have been available to it.