Its deputies issued a “danger signal” for the agricultural issue New Republic, during today’s debate held in the Parliament with the vice-president of the European Commission, Margaritis Schina. Members of Parliament, members of the committees that met today in the planned briefing by Mr. Schina, emphatically referred to the crisis faced by farmers, but also to the demographics, calling on the European Commission to promote the necessary decisions. Vangelis Meimarakis himself advocated the need to make decisions earlier, as well as Margaritis Schinas who recognized that there is a recognized difficulty imposed on the agricultural world, in the context of the green transition.

“We have to lighten that up. We started yesterday. Revised all fallow objectives. Fallow, as it was designed, is a thing of the past. These lands will be cultivated”, said its vice-president European Commission, who clarified, however, that the green transition cannot and should not be abandoned. In the agricultural mobilizations in Greece and Europe, the rapporteurs of the parties and members of the two parliamentary committees that met were mentioned.

“I come from the stricken Thessaly, which you visited – and you are honored by this. Things are now very serious, even if we have a suspension of agricultural mobilizations at this stage,” said the New Democracy MP. Christos Boukoros. “Whatever effort the prime minister and the government make, know that the agricultural issue is coming from the future, fueled by the upcoming food crisis, both because of population growth and because of the climate crisis, and for all the reasons you analyse. We have to solve it if we want to survive. I would ask you to convey to the Commission, that these environmental obligations of farmers be suspended for at least three years, that our farmers be informed, that they adapt smoothly. I’m not just talking about the Greeks,” said Mr. Boukoros and added: “Our farmers cannot afford these production costs. I don’t understand why the multinational companies have transit oil and the farmers, the Europeans and the Germans and the French and the Greeks don’t. I don’t understand why it is necessary for environmental schemes to produce RES, electricity, in order to meet the targets, after first giving the right to our farmers and breeders and to our small professionals, for Net Metering, to reduce production costs”.

“Farmers are protesting because their standard of living is threatened,” said the New Democracy MP. Maximos Charakopoulos. “Here there is a new reality that has been created after the war in Ukraine, with the soaring energy costs, and therefore we have to receive benefits and at least for three years these benefits that exist in the common agricultural policy should be suspended. I am afraid, Mr. Vice-President, that we are in danger of being labeled as Eurosceptics, but there is no doubt that Europe is at a historically pivotal point, where its very form and future are being judged,” said Mr. Harakopoulos.

“Producers in Greece mainly, I think also in Europe – but let me talk about Greece – are faced with insurmountable difficulties”, said the MP of New Democracy, Giannis Oikonomou and called for a paradigm shift in the perception of the primary sector. “It has to go up many, many steps in front of the priorities, whether it concerns financial support or horizontal policies that touch all aspects of dealing with the primary sector. Going ordinary or going a little better, or a little worse, or with small patches, unfortunately, we will not be able to solve problems, because the problems are not present. The climate collapse will not stop and one thing is the destruction of Thessaly which is a huge problem for the people there, which hopefully won’t happen again for the next two hundred years. A second thing is the prolonged crop failures, not only in Greece, but also elsewhere, due to the weather conditions that also change the way they cultivated”, said Mr. Economou.