Farmers are testing the government’s endurance with roadblocks on national highways. The risk that their mobilizations could extend until Christmas holidays, when there is very high traffic with transportation on road networks, has raised alarms at Maximos Mansion. The goal is to satisfy their demands and avoid creating problems for other social and professional groups expecting to work during the holiday period. For precisely this reason, the Prime Minister speaking at today’s Government Council emphasized that he understands the farmers’ dissatisfaction, reminding that compared to 2024 they have received half a billion more. However, regarding their mobilizations, he added that extreme actions do not help their cause. “We are always open to coordinated dialogue. Extreme actions do not help their cause. We have satisfied farmers’ demands on other occasions too,” stressed Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
In the government, more and more people are talking about the need for an immediate political solution, even from the Prime Minister himself, to prevent impacts on transportation and the broader market from farmers’ mobilizations ahead of Christmas. The risk is understood at Maximos Mansion, however a Prime Minister meeting with farmers will only happen when it’s certain that a solution will be found, as otherwise a deadlock at the highest level would be irreversible. For precisely this reason, before the Prime Minister gets involved, since the golden mean hasn’t been found through Agricultural Development Minister Kostas Tsiaras, Deputy Prime Minister Kostis Hatzidakis has entered the difficult field of negotiations with farmers.
Farmers: Delicate balances for PASOK
At the same time, PASOK is also walking a tightrope, clearly supporting farmers’ demands while betting on significant cracks in the government camp and under the weight of the OPEKEPE scandal. However, the difficulties for opposition representatives begin when they’re called to take a position for or against farmers’ roadblocks on national highways. They present this as a false dilemma without being able to take a clear position in favor of roadblocks. At Charilaou Trikoupi street they know that such a position would create confrontations with significant social groups and would give the government the opportunity to remind of the conflicts PASOK had with farmers when it was in power.
Many years may have passed since the Simitis government, to break farmers’ roadblocks on national highways, let police slash farmers’ tires, however ND MPs don’t miss the opportunity in their public statements to remind their PASOK colleagues of this. Given these facts, at Charilaou Trikoupi they focus on supporting farmers’ demands while downplaying discussion about the forms of their mobilizations. Smaller opposition and left-wing parties support farmers’ roadblocks without asterisks, and SYRIZA moves in this direction too.
With just a few more days until Christmas, the government hopes there won’t be roadblocks and the opposition bets on unrest. What’s certain is that if we reach the point of Christmas trees being decorated at roadblocks with holidaymakers unable to reach their destinations, then the endurance of all political forces will be tested.
