He had a meeting with representatives of farmers in Heraklion of Crete, the President of PASOK-Movement of Change, Nikos Androulakis.

“We continue the dialogue with the agricultural world of the country, because we believe that the problems are many and cannot be dealt with by the government with meterswhich only aim to turn the tractors back. We propose a strategic planwhich will answer the huge issues that have arisen in the agricultural world and have to do with the situation in OPEKEPE and ELGA” pointed out Mr. Androulakis, opening the discussion with the farmers.

“At a time when the climate crisis is escalating and we have a lot of damage from extreme natural phenomena, ELGA cannot compensate our farmers. It is unthinkable to have a 25% increase in production costs and not have the Excise Tax on oil abolished. There should be no policy for “Hellenization”. The products from third countries must be evaluated, they must be certified” added Mr. Androulakis and made special reference to the PASOK-Movement for Change proposals for energy: “The green transition cannot hurt the Greek farmer and be a speculative game of the domestic oligarchy. In other European states, energy communities for farmers, breeders, processors, cooperatives are a priority, so that they have stable costs over a 15-year period. As much energy as they do not consume, they sell it back to the grid, with the result that this profit covers, for example, the increase in the cost of fertilizers or animal feed. This is a sustainable model, proposed by PASOK. That is why we are here today in Heraklion, the day before yesterday in Boeotia, last week in Northern Greece. Because we want together with all these people who are suffering and sinking into despair, to find solutions. Not communicative but real”.

“How does New Democracy respond to these problems? It’s 5 years of government, it’s not a few months. What did they do; In OPEKEPE, management changed five times. They try to load it all in Brussels. But, the problems of a farmer in France who has 300 and 500 acres are different and the problems of the vast majority of Greek farmers who have small lots are different. I say it again, because for us this is the most important thing: Greece without the restructuring of the primary sector, especially in the food sector, its interconnection with cheap energy costs, with manufacturing and with quality tourism, will unfortunately become a country that the Greek people and the farmers will be strangers in their own land, we will go to de-Hellenization of the economy. And PASOK will stand in the way of this painful and nationally destructive policy, followed by Mr. Mitsotakis and New Democracy” concluded the President of PASOK-Movement for Change.