By Penelope Galliou

The government’s political will for a dialogue with farmers remains unchanged, as does its intention to find the best possible solutions to farmers’ problems, says the Maximos Palace against the escalation sought by the farmers after the decisions they took during the pan-Hellenic meeting in Nice, Larissa.

However, an inviolable rule, emphasized in all tones and by all competent government officials, is that any measures to support and strengthen farmers, but also any social group that claims the implementation of its demands, cannot exceed the budgetary limits that have been set with the government’s budget and economic policy.

The prime minister referred to this very rule during the discussion he had with the president of the Hellenic-American Chamber of Commerce Nikolaos Bacatsello as part of an event organized by the Chamber entitled “Promoting a Sustainable Economic Future Amidst Global Challenges”. “An inviolable condition for the recovery to continue is prudent fiscal policy” said Kyriakos Mitsotakis, noting that “this consistency allows us to return money to society” while making special reference to farmers, recalling among other things that the government through ELGA gave over from 1 billion euros and this could not be done if the economy was not going well.

The position of the prime minister, however, also had an edge for the farmers, who have recently monopolized the interest of the media with their mobilizations, while at the same time increasing their pressure and with the threat of closing the roads, “cutting off” Greece in both, with all that entails. In this climate, the prime minister wanted to promote social cohesion, stressing that “The fair distribution of the wealth created by the Greek economy is a necessary condition for maintaining social cohesion” while he referred to the law, as he described, the way in which the government manages different requests and don’t forget those who have no way to push or attract the attention of the media, photographing the farmers’ mobilizations.

For the moment, however, both sides, until they “unfold” their entire strategy, are seeking dialogue with the prime minister himself, leaving open the possibility of a meeting even between him and the representatives of the farmers. The problem, however, lies, according to government sources, in the fact that the farmers do not have a single representation and a single institutional body that could sit at the same table with the prime minister.

Until such a meeting happens, either at the Maximos Palace or at Ministry of Agricultural Development, a remote dialogue has developed between the two sides, with a confrontation of arguments and policies and the government having made its position clear that there are no fiscal margins for new support measures for farmers. But they leave a window open, to give the refund of the excise tax on oil earlier and not at the end of the year.

Regarding the demands of the farmers announced by the Coordinating Committee of the representatives of the blocs in Nice, Larissa, the government staff responds one by one.

In particular, for duty-free agricultural oil, it is pointed out that the Prime Minister from the floor of the Parliament already announced last Friday the return of the Special Consumption Tax on agricultural oil for 2024 as well, a measure of 82 million euros. The EFK refund measure was activated by the government for the years 2022 and 2023 as well. For these two years, around €160 million have been refunded to 297,000 farmers by main occupation.

In the next rural request for the cost of electricity at 7 minutes per kilowatt hour, government sources also refer to the Prime Minister’s statement in Parliament and the announcement of an additional 10% PPC discount on rural electricity from May to September, which are months of high rural consumption. They also recall the settlement of the debts to the PPC of the Local and General Organizations of Vascular Improvements (TOEB, GOEB), which currently reach 87 million euros.

About the photovoltaics for farmers, the reduction over a period of two years in the price of the kilowatt hour is mentioned, at least 30% for farmers who participate in cooperative schemes (cooperatives, organizations and groups of producers, etc.) and for farmers who practice contract farming with the construction of new photovoltaics for farmers, with a guaranteed price for a decade. For the individual farmers, a new Program exclusively for Farmers entitled “Photovoltaics in the Field”, amounting to 30 million euros, will be launched immediately.

In the overall effort to reduce energy costs, it is noted that the Apollo Program, the largest energy compensation program with green energy in the country, will contribute, through which, the TOEB and GOEB they will have significant, and permanent, relief from energy costs.

For subsidy on supplies and feed requested by the farmers, the government’s response is that it has reduced the VAT from 13% to 6% on animal feed and fertilizers and the VAT on the purchase of agricultural machinery from 24% to 13%. While at the same time he reduced the taxation of farmers, instituted a new tax scale, repealed the Katrougalou law, facilitated access to financing for farmers through the Microcredit Fund and abolished the taxation of aid from the first euro imposed by SYRIZA.

For the non-implementation of the new CAP and its renegotiation, government sources recall that by negotiation in Brussels the government kept the same resources from the CAP for Greek farmers when they were reduced for other countries.

More specifically, the non-implementation of the new CAP would deprive Greek farmers of aid of the order of 2.8 billion per year that they currently either receive directly, or through various programs, from the OKAY.

Regarding the 100% compensation and replenishment of lost income in the products requested by the farmers, it is stated that the abolition of the 20% of the ELGA withholding was initiated by IANO and was applied in all cases of natural disasters and extreme disasters, such as the spring frost 2021, during the severe hailstorms of June 2022, while it is currently also applied in Thessaly according to the ad hoc program which also does not provide for a 20% reduction. The government established the advance payments in conjunction with the 20% non-withholding to support rural households affected by natural disasters.

Finally, regarding the illegal Greekization, it is emphasized that on the order of the competent minister Lefteris Avgenakis, since January 18 sweeping controls on the market have been started by mixed levels of the General Directorate of Food of the HYPAAT, EFET, ELGO DIMITRA and the local veterinary services of the DAOK . These are checks carried out at the country’s entry gates, ports, supermarkets and other retail outlets throughout the country.

Checks are also carried out on tankers transporting milk, as relevant complaints have been made to the FSA. In the controls, samples of milk products are taken and sent to accredited laboratories for further chemical analyses, with the aim of complying with the legislation regarding labeling, as well as the milk balances maintained by each processing industry. Checks are also carried out to ensure compliance with PDO and PGI product specifications. Corresponding mechanisms of the HYPAT will also be set in motion for honey and meat controls.