ATHENS: Protesting farmers in Greece vowed to maintain road blockades for a second straight week, even as the prime minister on Sunday reiterated that the government was open to talks.
Greek farmers are outraged over long delays in subsidy payments triggered by a scandal involving embezzled European Union agriculture aid, and are also under pressure from low prices, rising energy costs and worsening climate conditions.
“Occupying roads and other public infrastructure that belongs to everyone… are actions which harm the country” as well as “local economies in the regions”, conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a statement on Facebook.
Following a meeting on Saturday afternoon, farmers’ unions rejected the prime minister’s invitation to hold talks on Monday, after protesters last week temporarily blocked the central port of Volos.
The port is a key gateway into Thessaly, Greece’s agricultural heartland, which is struggling to recover from the widespread destruction of livestock and infrastructure wrought by Storm Daniel in 2023.
On Sunday, farmers maintained blockades with tractors, notably on roads in Thessaly, disrupting traffic on several highways.
Farmers on Crete also blocked the island’s two main airports for hours last Monday, backed by fishermen.
Farmers’ leaders said that without “concrete answers” to their demands, “dialogue makes no sense,” Greek news agency Ana reported.
Mitsotakis reacted by saying: “We don’t do dialogue with ultimatums” and “we find solutions by talking.”
But he added that the government is taking into account “legitimate demands” and “already studying a set of additional support measures”.
His government is currently investigating a fraud scandal over European agricultural aid, revealed in May by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, which delayed payment of EU subsidies demanded since last month by farmers and breeders.
The government has promised to allocate additional funds to legitimate farmers.
Saturday saw more than a dozen arrests on Crete relating to the fraud scandal, adding to 37 in October.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.