Greek premier seeks to meet farmers as protests continue

ATHENS

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is willing to meet farmers who continue protesting across Greece, government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis said Thursday.

"The prime minister, obviously, as we have said many times before, is willing to meet them on Monday. We are now waiting to see who he will be meeting and who the people he is meeting with represent,” he said at a news conference.

But he said a condition for continuing dialogue with farmers is that the roads remain open.

Marinakis added that the government seeks to have talks with farmers in a good atmosphere.

Farmers continued their mobilization by symbolically blocking roads in the northern region of Central Macedonia, as reported by local media.

The Avgi newspaper said Kostas Tzellas, head of the Karditsa Agricultural Association, in response to the government spokesperson's remarks, said: "We don't want him (premier) to listen to us, we want him to provide solutions."

Similarly, the Secretary of the United Federation of Agricultural Associations of Northern Karditsa, Ioannis Tsioutras, added: "We want this meeting to provide solutions to our vital problems."

​​​​​​​Earlier this week, farmers decided to escalate protests until their demands are met, including having subsidized prices for agricultural fuel and electricity, a tax reduction for animal feed, fertilizers and agricultural machinery, and an extensive revision of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy.

They also threatened to enter Athens with tractors if their demands are not met.

“No one can blackmail society, no matter how fair their demands,” Mitsotakis said Wednesday in response.