From Nea Moudania and the junction of Strymonikos to Kalamata and Chania, farmers across the country are hardening their stance and declare they are ready to escalate their mobilizations by taking the final decisions on their next moves at tomorrow’s pan-Hellenic meeting in Nice scheduled for 12:00 noon. The same time, the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis in a dialogue he had this afternoon with journalists during the presentation of Dimitris Tsiodra’s new book, he did not rule out a meeting with the farmers, however he emphasized that he first expects the farmers’ decisions tomorrow.

The farmers who for one more day today took to the streets with their tractors they seem unyielding and they plan closure of national roads, even a tractor landing in Syntagma Square with tomorrow’s meeting seen as crucial to their next steps.

Specifically, after the assembly they held earlier today the farmers of Thessaly, suggest their long stay on the National Road, their descent into Athens, but also actions within the cities if their demands are not met by the government, which is a schedule for the compensations they will receive, subsidies for idleness and reduction of VAT on oil, electricity, agricultural supplies and fertilizers.

As he pointed out the representative of the Agricultural Cooperative of Larisa, Christos Sidiropoulos, the demands of the farmers are common throughout Greece, while he did not rule out seeing images like in Germany, France and Italy with the aim, as he said, of pressuring the state to change its decisions.

From his side the trade unionist of the Larissa farmers, Rizos Maroudas he pointed out that one of their proposals is a rally in the center of Athens with the aim, as he said, of putting pressure on the government in order to provide solutions to their demands.

“We will jointly decide our actions, how we will handle the situation after the announcements of the prime minister that do not satisfy us. That is why we continue with a proposal to escalate the mobilizations to go out on the national road with the tractors” he said and added: “Tomorrow the final decisions will be made. The proposals and thoughts that exist are to go national, to have more intense and long-lasting blockades to pressure the government more effectively to pressure the government to consider the requests and provide solutions so that a meeting can also take place when there is something essential to discuss.”

Further escalation of mobilizations its farmers are also expected to propose Macedonia. As he reported in his main news bulletin SKAI, the journalist Christos Chatzimisis expected at tomorrow’s meeting in Nice, Larissa to propose closure of national and provincial roads, closure of major customs starting from Wednesday and descent to Athens.

They take a tough stance and the farmers of the Aegean who according to the reporter Christos Stratoulakos they have also taken their horses out into the streets. As he said, the farmers are determined to close all highways, such as the Ionian Road, Antirrio – Ioannina, Patras – Athens and Corinth – Tripoli – Kalamata. Also, they plan to proceed with closing the Rio-Antirrio bridge and the Isthmus of Corinth. They also declare that they are determined to reach the Syntagma with their tractors.

Marinakis: We support the farmers, but the resources are not inexhaustible

For its part, however, the government supported today through the mouth of the government representative Pavlos Marinakis that he actively supports the agricultural world, however, as he said, “no additional measures are being considered”.

“The government is actively supporting the agricultural world, one of the biggest ‘industries’ of the country,” he said in a briefing for political editors. however, he noted that “the resources at our disposal are not inexhaustible, which is why additional measures are not being considered.”

Asked specifically about the farmers’ mobilizations, Mr. Marinakis said that “the government’s interventions did not start because of the mobilizations and the prime minister has proven that he is by society’s side but always with realism and what he says he knows can be put into practice.”

Mr. Marinakis also said that the arogi.gov.gr platform will open “within the next twenty-four hours for new or additional first aid applications to agricultural holdings and livestock units for the areas affected by the extreme flooding phenomena of September 2023 in Thessaly and in other areas. The amount of aid will range from 5,000 to 10,000 euros depending on the severity of the damage suffered. First aid payments to individuals and businesses continue. On Friday, 795,000 euros were paid to 240 natural persons and 7.7 million euros to 600 affected businesses.
And he clarified that a total of 147.7 million euros have been paid to date to 43,512 households, businesses, agricultural holdings and livestock units.