Brussels, Sep 16 (AP): A scorching summer that dried up rivers and killed tens of thousands across the European Union from Portugal to Hungary has shown that the bloc needs to develop new tools to meet a worsening climate, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday.
She said that this instability led her to propose a new European Heatwave Plan as well as a future European firefighting fleet of aeroplanes. Currently, the EU operates a small fleet itself but coordinates a network of aircraft, water trucks and volunteers that move across the 27-nation bloc as fires ignite.
“This summer was the summer of truth. Almost no part of our continent was spared,” said the EU executive during her annual State of the European Union address in Strasbourg.
“Key rivers like the Danube, the Rhine or the Garonne are disappearing before our eyes. More than 35,000 additional deaths during the heat waves. Care homes and hospitals dangerously overheated.”
The extreme heat, which hit Europe exceptionally hard and early this year, appears to have led to a much higher spike in deaths than expected.
Von der Leyen’s figure of 35,000 is triple the estimates of “excessive deaths” by monitoring groups in July.
The heat and humidity that broke many records during the summer would not have been possible without climate change, according to a study by the World Weather Attribution group.
Thursday, September 17, 2026