A delegation of farmers’ representatives met a few days ago with the prime minister and the relevant ministers in a very constructive meeting in which all the issues and solutions were raised, emphasized the deputy minister to the prime minister and government representative Pavlos Marinakis. He stated that there is no further support within the state budget. “We’ve run out of room and we don’t want to create expectations that we can’t meet,” he clarified.

“Regarding the renegotiation of the CAP or the issue of illegal Greekization are issues that the government is working on in open communication with farmers. As for agricultural oil, there is no more room for this year” noted Mr. Marinakis, underlining that for 2025 the discussion will begin as soon as possible for a fairer and permanent way of returning the Excise Tax on oil, which has ceased to exist since 2016. “The prime minister has decided to institutionalize in a fairer way and a more permanent way” he said.

“We believe in dialogue, we seek dialogue, dialogue seems to be much more useful and beneficial for the two countries in the big picture than a prolonged tension condition. This does not mean, however, that we are naive or that we have any inclination to give up on our sovereign rights. The dialogue and the process and its observance are constantly evaluated,” the government representative said in response to a question about the Turkish foreign exchange.

“Such incidents sometimes happen, like the one you asked me about, here perhaps the value of the two countries being in a dialogue phase, so that they can be resolved in the fastest possible way, certainly without any suspicion of retreating from our sovereign rights, can be seen here. without scaling. It is positive that this communication exists. We will continue to pursue dialogue, without any inclination to back down on our sovereign rights,” he added.

Regarding what is happening in football, Mr. Marinakis said that the picture we saw last weekend was encouraging. “We saw a basketball cup final organized with fans from both teams in an exemplary manner. We saw a football match, not only in the Toumba stadium, but also in other stadiums, we saw that it can be done with proper organization,” he noted.

“We are not saying that the task of opening the stadiums with fans is easy, and we will also be judged for the implementation of the camera system and for electronic ticket identification. But we believe that as long as we are all on the same page and as long as we stay true to the disciplinary framework then day by day we will see progress” he added.

Regarding the speech of former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and his reports of arrogance, he reiterated that he will not enter into a response process to a former Prime Minister and president of the ND. “He expresses his views as he has the right to do so, all the other MPs also expressed their views and their differences on the bill. It was expected, because as the prime minister said about the bills that touch on human rights issues, there is no question of party discipline,” he said.

“The very attitude of the prime minister, the government, and not in words, in actions, proves that it is the government that is closer than any other to citizens, professional groups, society. The strangest example is the meeting with the farmers where all the requests were heard and the best possible answers were given, the constant presence of the prime minister throughout Greece, the constant interaction with the professional groups, the admissions of mistakes that are then metabolised into actions” he added and emphasized that “The government is treading very firmly on the ideological base of the ND.”

He pointed out that no pressure was exerted on the MPs. “Publicly the prime minister has said that there is no question of party discipline. In the two-day informative meetings, opposing views were heard more and a civilized dialogue took place, as was the case with other bills,” he said.

“From this process the ND leaves united and I emphasize that there are no two-speed parliamentarians” said the government representative. “ND did not co-govern with the extreme right, another party co-governed with the extreme right. The last party that should apologize for co-governance with the extreme right is the ND,” he noted in response to a related question, emphasizing that the stance of some MPs on a bill that lacked party discipline is not a harbinger of any differentiation. “I don’t think there has been a more solid parliamentary group,” he said.