With the upcoming meeting with Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Tuesday, January 13, farmers are easing their road blockades. Today, Saturday 10/01, the nationwide blockade committee will convene in Nikaia to designate the farmers’ delegation that will travel to the Maximos Mansion for the meeting with the prime minister. The committee will also examine the six measures recently detailed by the government, while establishing the framework for the remaining demands from the agricultural community.
Read: EU-Mercosur agreement: New export prospects for Greek agri-food products
The farmers from Prasina Fanaria and those from Crete will not be represented in the meeting with Kyriakos Mitsotakis, as they have – for different reasons – distanced themselves from this position. In Malgara, farmers showed good faith by opening both traffic flows at the toll stations after 6 PM on Friday 9/01. Traffic is running on two lanes toward Athens and three lanes toward Thessaloniki. The farmers from the Malgara blockade will attend today’s nationwide meeting in Nikaia, Larissa, while they will also designate their representative for the meeting with the prime minister.
According to ERT, farmers in Malgara emphasize that the Mercosur agreement is catastrophic for them. As they characteristically state, it’s a death blow, since most of them are rice producers.
Farmers: E-65 blockade remains – Traffic diverted through bypass roads
However, the blockade on E-65 remains and traffic is diverted through bypass roads, as although it’s open with one lane in each direction, vehicle circulation is deemed unsafe. Thus, detours are made through Sofades for Trikala and Lamia and through the city of Larissa for Thessaloniki.
At the country’s largest blockade with approximately 2,500 tractors, Friday evening concluded the meeting during which Kostas Tzelas and other blockade committee members justified their decision to open roads for 24 hours instead of 48 hours, as a gesture of good faith toward the prime minister and government ahead of the meeting. They mentioned that for the first time they believe Tuesday’s dialogue will be fruitful and emphasized that this was achieved due to the 40-day pressure they’ve been applying through their blockade presence. They concluded that this mobilization was worth the effort.
Farmers from Karditsa will approach the meeting with modest expectations. They want to resolve technical issues, such as what will happen to those who have arrangements but still can’t get cheap electricity for their crops, how the fuel consumption tax issue can be settled, the vaccination issue for livestock farmers, and what happens next – how they can remain in this profession.
The possibility of a farmers’ rally on Tuesday in Athens
On Saturday, representatives for Tuesday’s meeting will be selected as a fifteen-member committee from all blockades, from Evros to the Peloponnese, is expected to be formed to meet at Maximos Mansion on Tuesday. At the general assembly held Friday in Nikaia, ahead of today’s nationwide meeting, they also discussed a proposal for a farmers’ rally on Tuesday in Athens, to gain support from other social groups. It was said that if there’s no satisfaction, escalation will follow with much more dynamic and harder mobilizations.
Farmers at the blockade in Kastro, Boeotia will keep the National Highway closed until Saturday morning, when 48 hours are completed since the road closures from the blockade’s original decision to proceed with a 96-hour blockade. In a gesture of good faith, according to ERT, farmers are reportedly considering the possibility, in order to advance dialogue with the prime minister, to keep the National Highway closed but leave the bypass roads free.
