Farmers’ demands not met, reps say
After a meeting with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the Maximos Mansion, representatives of protesting farmers have said that their demands have not been met by the government and that their demonstrations, highway road blocks and lifting of toll booth barriers will continue.
Speaking to public broadcaster ERT, one of the farmers’ representatives, Rizos Maroudas, said that the road blocks will be strengthened in order to fulfill their demands, which will determine their “survival.”
At the meeting, the government proposed further support measures for farmers who have been protesting for weeks over rising energy costs and competition from abroad.
“I believe we can find common ground, taking into account your justified concerns,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told farmers’ representatives ahead of the meeting.
The government announced that farmers will be eligible for cheaper electricity for two years from April, a measure that will be partly financed from proceeds from renewables and carbon market credits.
After that period, electricity prices will be stabilized for a third of their power consumption for another eight years, the energy ministry said in a statement.
Mitsotakis told farmers they had received more than 1 billion euros in compensation for crops damaged in natural disasters since 2019 and noted Greece’s fiscal constraints. [Kathimerini/Reuters]
