Greek farmers continue to mobilize in the country, demanding more answers

This Monday, Greek farmers continued to mobilize across the country, intensifying the blockade of regional roads, to demand that the government led by Conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis fulfill their demands.

While local media report increased regional roadblocks in northern Greece and the possibility of more protests in the center of the country, the Greek government has already made it clear that no additional measures are planned for the agricultural sector compared to those announced last week.

On the outskirts of Thessaloniki, Greece’s second city, this Monday morning farmers tried to enter the center of the city of 1.5 million people with dozens of tractors but were blocked by police.

In a protest lasting about two weeks, farmers are demanding a review of the European Union’s (EU) Common Agricultural Policy, which they blame for significantly reducing their income, and are demanding compensation in the face of the prices they paid for it. products necessary for their activities.

Another demand involves compensation for damage caused by floods recorded in the central region, where the country’s largest agricultural region is located.

Despite the Greek government’s announcement last week of increasing aid to each producer in flood-affected areas from the current €2,000 to a maximum of €10,000, as well as other support for the agricultural sector, farmers’ associations criticized the measures, which they classified as “insufficient” .

Greek executive spokesman Pavlos Marinakis today made it clear that “additional measures are not being considered” because the “resources at the disposal” of the government “are not inexhaustible.”

A meeting of professional organizations from all over the country is scheduled for Tuesday in the city of Larisa (in the center), at which, according to the local press, farmers should decide to further intensify the protests.

European farmers, including in Portugal, have taken to the streets in recent weeks, cutting up roads with tractors and straw bales, demanding CAP flexibility and more support for the sector, which has already prompted governments to take new measures.

In Portugal this morning, about fifty tractors and agricultural machines blocked the additional route (IC) 2 in the Benedita area, in the municipality of Alcobaça, where farmers from the western region are protesting against the current state of the sector.