Feb 21, 2024
They came to Athens on Tuesday, they honked in front of the Parliament and left at noon on Wednesday. At least 6,600 farmers with over 160 tractors and agricultural machinery as well as 112 buses gathered at Syntagma Square demanding from the government to meet their demands for lower production cost.
Protesters did not meet with any government official while in Athens and left as empty handed as they came, however, with the sound of Smooth Criminal they had successfully probed and performed.
Back home, they will hold general assemblies at the blockades points to inform other farmers and to decide about future mobilizations as the government reiterated on Wednesday that there is “no fiscal space to give subsidies to farmers.”
Flood-ridden farmers from Thessaly said that they expected to meet with the prime minister in the coming week, to discuss specifically the situation in the Thessaly plain that was destroyed by the storm ‘Daniel’ in September 2023.
Farmers demand lower fuel price, a drop of electricity cost to 7 cents/KW, subsidies for fertilizers, animal feed, and equipment.
They said that the measures announced by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis when he met with the Panhellenic Blockades Committee in mid-February are not enough.
They also spoke of cheap imports from non-EU countries that are of doubtful quality and resold at higher prices as Greek. “This year, when our animal capital was reduced, where did the milk come from, and not only that, the price the farmers were paid fell?”
Traffic in Athens returned to normal after 12 o’ clock Wednesday noon and main avenues were reopened to vehicles traffic.
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