The government’s door is open for dialogue, but the roads must also remain open: This is the dual message the government is sending to farmers, as participants in last night’s assembly at the Nikaia Larissa blockade confirmed their determination to escalate their struggle and strengthen their presence daily.
From London, where he attended the Greek Investment Conference on Monday, Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke about agricultural subsidies and referred to “a painful transition at this moment,” noting that there is a “problem of merging databases and cross-referencing existing information.” However, he emphasized that “in a year from now we will be able to ensure that any producer entitled to subsidies will receive the amount they deserve. And because we eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy and corruption from the system, real farmers will receive more money, as the total amount remains the same.”
In the short term, the government, through Deputy Prime Minister Kostis Hatzidakis, emphasizes that December will be the month of major payments to the agricultural sector. As he explained speaking to SKAI, “if we rushed to pay without having the green light from the European Commission, it would be worse both for the budget and for the farmers themselves. Because the money we would give without controls and without agreement with Brussels would be demanded back by the European Commission or further subsidies would be prohibited.”
He also pointed out that the state this year, by December 31, will have given farmers more money overall from the first and second pillars of the Common Agricultural Policy compared to last year, and that in the end everyone will understand that a reliable, fairer system is being created with the seal of the European Union.
More details were provided by the responsible Minister, Kostas Tsiaras, who said on Parapolitika 90.1 that in the coming days Measure 23 will be paid so that farmers who had reduced production last year will receive compensation, and ELGA compensations will also be paid, while he estimated the total amount to be disbursed by the end of December at 1.2 billion.
Regarding all types of payments to farmers and livestock breeders, the government’s message is that before Christmas it is practically impossible to do anything more or broader than what the Ministry of Agricultural Development has committed to. “The door of my ministry is always open for dialogue with farmers’ representatives,” Mr. Tsiaras conveyed.
Pavlos Marinakis to farmers: Roads must remain open
Regarding road closures, however, the message was articulated during the briefing of political editors by government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis, and it was one of non-tolerance for such mobilizations. “I understand the need, I understand the right – no one disputes it – of protest and demanding further, more things. However, there is no possibility of allowing traffic to be obstructed, passage to be blocked. Many people to be tormented because some want to stage mobilizations. The police must do their job and they will do it. Roads must remain open,” Mr. Marinakis stated.
He also analyzed payments of over half a billion euros being made these days to farmers, implying that through this method, along with dialogue, the mobilizations could be de-escalated. These payments include:
– advance payment of basic support, worth 363 million euros, to almost 472,000 beneficiaries,
– payments from the Rural Development Program, worth 119 million euros, and
– compensation for foot-and-mouth disease and peste des petits ruminants, worth 56 million euros.
