(Brussels) “We are working 24 hours a day to help Sweden. It is our duty in a Europe that protects and is close to its citizens”, the Commissioner for Humanitarian Aids and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides, stated today. “Last week and in the weekend, a record-breaking level of support was provided by the EU”, the Commissioner said about the 7 fire-fighting aircrafts, 7 helicopters, 60 vehicles and over 340 people who went to Sweden from Italy, France, Germany, Lithuania, Denmark, Portugal, Poland and Austria, through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. “The fires in Sweden show that climate change is real, and no country is immune to natural catastrophes”, went on Stylianides, who took on Junker’s Commission’s idea to “strengthen the EU civil protection response through rescEU”, which is a EU fund for emergency rescues, “so that, when a catastrophe hits a member state, it is in a better position to face it”. In the meantime, the Emergency Response Coordination Centre of the EU Commission is closely monitoring the situation in Sweden and the risk of fires in the woods all over Europe.