The President of PASOK – KINAl Nikos Androulakis announced that will immediately table the first topical question as leader of the official oppositionfocusing through it on issues for the agricultural sector.

In particular, as stated among others, Mr. Androulakis emphasizes that as soon as the work of the Parliament begins, he will take the relevant initiative by submitting a topical question to the Prime Minister and asking for answers:

– For the lack of long-term planning and strategy for the primary sector, as for years, the government has not submitted a coherent plan that addresses the problems with substantial solutions.
-For the total abandonment of the Greek region and the farmers, resulting in the dramatic reduction of agricultural income and the desolation of the countryside.
-For the increase in production costs, as well as in the new year, our farmers are faced with unbearable costs.
-For the situation in OPEKEPE as delays in payments and bureaucracy intensify the problems, at the same time as unprecedented issues of mismanagement come to the surface, leading the Organization to European surveillance.
-For the exorbitant energy costs that negatively affect the competitiveness of our agricultural products, as they increase the total cost of production. Farmers, breeders, processors, cooperatives should have priority terms of connection to energy communities to stabilize production costs, thus offsetting costs for fertilizers and animal feed. The government instead of adopting this fair policy – as other European countries do – has chosen to undermine the country’s energy future by sequestering most of the energy space in favor of powerful energy producers.

The statement of Nikos Androulakis in detail:

In the sixth year of New Democracy’s rule, the primary sector is experiencing an unprecedented decline. On the one hand, the serious problems of the agricultural world remain without convincing answers, and on the other hand, the government has failed to draw up a long-term development policy that will increase the export of goods produced by our country, strengthen the trade balance of agricultural products and contribute to the all-round upgrading of Greek region.

From one end to the other in the country, villages are being deserted and their inhabitants are driven to internal and external migration. Regional disparities are widening rapidly with serious implications for the major national issue of Demography. And all this at a time when the primary sector is once again gaining strategic importance, as food demand increases globally while agricultural supply is subject not only to geopolitical conflicts but also to the ever-escalating climate crisis.

The New Democracy government has failed to strengthen our comparative advantages, which could be used for the developmental and demographic renaissance of Greece.

The development model followed by the government does not create a resilient economy and this can be seen from the fact that 62% of direct foreign investments in 2024 were in real estate, which instead of strengthening the national economy, weakens Greek property.

For this reason, as soon as the work of the Parliament begins, I will take a relevant initiative by submitting a topical question to the Prime Minister and asking for answers:

-For the lack of long-term planning and strategy for the primary sector, as for years, the government has not submitted a coherent plan that addresses the problems with substantial solutions.

-For the total abandonment of the Greek region and the farmers, resulting in the dramatic reduction of agricultural income and the desolation of the countryside.

-For the increase in production costs, as well as in the new year, our farmers are faced with unbearable costs.

-For the situation in OPEKEPE as delays in payments and bureaucracy intensify the problems, at the same time as unprecedented issues of mismanagement come to the surface, leading the Organization to European surveillance.

-For the exorbitant energy costs that negatively affect the competitiveness of our agricultural products, as they increase the total cost of production. Farmers, breeders, processors, cooperatives should have priority terms of connection to energy communities to stabilize production costs, thus offsetting costs for fertilizers and animal feed. The government instead of adopting this fair policy – as other European countries do – has chosen to undermine the country’s energy future by sequestering most of the energy space in favor of powerful energy producers.

It is imperative that there is a plan for the regeneration of the Greek countryside and the strengthening of the primary sector, before it is too late. PASOK has proposed a specific package of measures to support agricultural production and the primary sector. We will have the opportunity to discuss these measures soon in Parliament, as there is no room to waste any more valuable time for the farmers and the Greek region.