The president of PASOK made an intervention on the problems of farmers and the primary sector, Nikos Androulakiswho criticized the government for its handling so far.

His statement in more detail:

The Government of the New Republic has been ignoring the major problems of the primary sector for five years, as a result of which it has not drawn up a long-term development policy in a very critical sector for the productive extroversion of the country and the regeneration of the Greek region.

In a period of global growth in agricultural production and increasing food demand, Greek farmers are leaving the agricultural profession resulting in increased food imports and a worsening of the trade balance. According to ELSTAT, in the decade 2009-2020, agricultural holdings decreased by 26.6%, while the used agricultural area decreased by 18%. At the same time, the value of imports of agricultural products showed an increase of 62% over the past 8 years.

Greece spends more than 10 billion euros a year on food imports, while even importing products in which it has a comparative advantage, such as horticulture.

Furthermore, while the total market value in the EU of European PDO/PGI/PGI products amounts to 77.15 billion euros, representing 7% of the total value of European sales of the food sector, Greece occupies only 1.3% although it has many more products registered than other countries.

While the European Union allocated to our country almost the same funding as in the previous programming period for the CAP, the government of Mr. Mitsotakis failed to manage it properly, creating huge losses for the incomes of Greek farmers and breeders.

The submission of the national Strategic Plan for the Common Agricultural Policy by the government lacked a vision for the future of Greek agriculture and did not have clear objectives. It presented incorrect calculations, since within the strategic plan there are provisions for acreage subsidies that today look like an illusory dream. Really, was there such great incompetence or did the government not want the truth to be heard before the national elections?

To all of the above was added the disastrous implementation of this ineffective Strategic Plan, with problematic payments – according to the responsible Minister – and unacceptable delays, which will continue for a long time to come, depriving Greek farmers of resources, especially in a a period when their income is tested daily by the high cost of production, the lack of workers, the cumulative entry of uncontrolled goods and also the precision that the government is unable to combat.

PASOK’s proposals respond to the modern needs of our country’s producers and minimize the constraints caused by New Democracy’s policy.

In this context we propose:

● Renegotiation of the Strategic Plan of the Common Agricultural Policy by simplifying the ecological schemes and adapting it to the needs of the Greek countryside, so that the beneficiaries are the real farmers.
● Creation of energy communities in rural areas to reduce energy costs to zero.
● Abolition of the Special Consumption Tax on Agricultural oil.
● Revision of the ELGA regulation for fairer compensations.
● Protection of agricultural land from speculative practices and foreign funds.
● A necessary condition for importing food and agricultural products from third countries is their certification according to European and national standards.
● Zero tolerance for illegal Greekization practices.