Deputy PM in more fruitless talks with angry farmers

Another round of talks on Wednesday between the government and protesting farmers failed to yield any tangible results.

A 17-member group of farmers met with a team of government officials led by Deputy Prime Minister Yiannis Dragasakis but the two sides were not able to move closer together on a range of issues that have sparked a series of road blocks by the agriculturalists in central and northern Greece.

Tax and social security issues are they key points of difference and proved too complicated to solve in another meeting that the government had with a different set of farmers a few days ago.

While the meeting in Athens was taking place, farmers blocked the Hersos highway junction, which leads to the Doirani border crossing in northern Greece. The Evzones border post on the frontier with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) has been closed for several days due to farmers blocking the road.