Roadblocks returned to Greece on Tuesday after a 4-day-long break as the majority of protesting farmers ultimately declined to join the dialogue with the prime minister today in the afternoon.
The roadblocks on Tuesday will be set during the meeting of PM with some of farmers at 3 p.m. The overwhelming majority of protesters say they will escalate their mobilizations.
In a meeting late on Monday evening, the Panhellenic Committee consisting of 62 blocks decided to abstain form the meeting with Kyriakos Mitsotakis after in a last minute move his office rejected their proposal about the number of their representatives.
The farmers had proposed a farmers’ representation from several blocks as well as a committee consisting of livestock breeders, beekeepers, fishermen and other parts of the country’s primary sector.
The so-called “hardliners” insist that representatives from all sectors should take part in the meeting, that is a farmers’ committee and a other sectors representatives, 20+15, a total of 35 people.
Instead, the PM’s office limited their number down to 20.
Following this decision, farmers decided to hold several roadblocks on Tuesday, during the time the Premier will hold a meeting with representatives of some blocks and agricultural cooperatives including from Crete and other regions of central and northern Greece as well as individuals who are not organized in a union, a total of 25 people.
These representatives had distanced themselves from the protests already before Christmas, while the government had struck a deal with farmers from Crete – the region of PM’s origin – almost right from the beginning.
PM Mitsotakis welcoming farmers in his office on Teusday teuadsy afternoon: “Developments are shaped by those present, not those absent.”
According to the “hardliners”, those meeting with the PM at 3 p.m. “represent only themselves” and they are less than 10% of the people working in the primary sector.
Several representatives of the “hardliners” blocks have appeared on TV channels on Tuesday, reiterating they can come to a meeting with the PM “any time” with their 14+1 (the Mercosur-EU agreement) demands on the table and if the PM accepts the two delegations of 25 farmers and 10 breeders and beekeepers.
At the same time, they have announced to escalate their mobilizations.
Through the spokesman, the government calls them “a minority” and threatens them with heavy fines if they keep on blocking roads, highways and customs.
“The law will be implemented,” government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis threatened them on Tuesday. He accused them of being “party-affiliated” without naming any particular party, though.
With their tractors, protesters are on the roads for 45 days, demanding a government plan to secure their present and their future, stressing that for them it is a matter of survival.
