With their eyes fixed on the meeting they will have next Tuesday, at 12 noon, with the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, farmers – representatives of the blocs of the whole country, mainly of Macedonia and Thessaly.
In their statements, the farmers point out that in the meeting with the prime minister there will be an honest dialogue about their requests, stressing, however, that they are waiting for solutions for them. “We have given our requests to which the government owes and must provide solutions. The mobilization remains, the blockades remain, tomorrow we will take out new blockades throughout the country as we have agreed and we will discuss how we will escalate until the meeting. We want solutions so we can stay in our fields and farm. This also means reducing the cost of production in order to have a daily wage to survive”, said the president of the United Federation of Agricultural Unions of Larisa, Rizos Maroudas.
The meeting is expected to discuss the course of the mobilizations and the setting up of new blocks before the meeting with the prime minister. They will also choose the members of the committee who next Tuesday will sit at Maximos’ table with Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
For his part, the communication manager of the Derveni block, Kostas Hatziparadisis, pointed out that there are many problems in the sector which must be solved immediately. As he stated, “there is a basic structure of three or four requests such as production and energy costs and all the requests that we have submitted that are the basis for being able to discuss all the rest. If our demands are not met, we are ready to continue our mobilizations, that goes without saying.”
The demands of the farmers
Yesterday afternoon, the farmers sent a memorandum to the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in which they state their demands. Farmers are asking for tax-free agricultural oil, a ceiling of 7 cents per kilowatt-hour on electricity, state subsidies for means, supplies and animal feed, for the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) not to be implemented and for it to be renegotiated, replenishment of lost crop income that have a loss of production that is not covered by ELGA as well as in plant and animal production products that were sold below the cost of production.
They also ask for compensation from ELGA for all damages and diseases at 100% of the actual damage and not the insured value, for measures to be taken and controls to be carried out by the government to stop the “Hellenization” of plant, animal & beekeeping products, to have prices that cover the cost of production so that they have income for their livelihood and cultivation needs, to build infrastructure projects for the anti-flood protection of the country, while there was also an annex regarding the disasters in Thessaly.
Blockade in Tyrnavos
In the meantime, the farmers continue their mobilizations throughout Greece, with blockades. At this time, the roads in Turnavos have been closed with tractors.
See photos and videos:
Video from the protests of the Tyrnavos wine cooperative (one of the largest cooperatives in Greece):
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