Tractorcade to head to Athens on Tuesday

Charging that the government “did not scrape the bottom of the barrel as it had promised,” farmers on Thursday voted during a nationwide meeting in Nikaia in Larissa to continue their mobilizations and to descend on Athens on Tuesday with their tractors to hold a large-scale rally.

There will also be simultaneous mobilizations in many regions of Greece at the time of the rally as part of the effort to put further pressure on the government exactly one week after the meeting of their representatives with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

As they emphasized, none of their demands was met by the government, so they are determined to continue their mobilizations. For its part, the government announced that there is no more fiscal space for benefits to farmers.

“No convincing answer was given to our requests in the meeting with the prime minister,” said Kostas Tzelas, president of the Federation of Agricultural Associations of Karditsa. “We asked for tax-free oil, but they didn’t give it to us. Before the meeting they gave us a special tax refund of €83 million, that’s what they give us after,” he added.

Regarding the reduced electricity price, he emphasized that at the beginning of April, when the measure will be implemented, “it is very likely that electricity prices will have fallen.”

“The prime minister admitted that some mistakes have been made regarding the implementation of the new CAP (Common Agricultural Policy), but he told us that nothing can be changed now and referred us to the future.”

Regarding the subsidy for agricultural supplies (which in the context of the CAP cannot be applied), Tzelas stated that the PM invited the representatives of the farmers who were present at the meeting last Tuesday at the Maximos Mansion to lodge complaints if they find instances of profiteering in the agricultural supplies market. “We believe that the government has not scraped the bottom of the barrel as promised,” he concluded.