Tsiaras: 'The government is here, with its cards laid open and a willingness to talk'

"Solutions will not come about via the blockades but through dialogue," Rural Development and Food Minister Kostas Tsiaras said on Saturday in a message to protesting farmers, stressing that the "government is here, with its cards laid open and a willingness to talk."

In his statement, Tsiaras said the government acknowledges the long-term and serious problems that Greek farmers face, such as higher production costs, the repercussions of the climate crisis, international turmoil and structural weaknesses going back decades, and has taken a series of actions in recent years to address these.

He also pointed out that the government has sought dialogue with the farmers since their protests started and had presented a series of measures as a starting point, including lower costs of electricity, eliminating special consumption tax for diesel, modifying ELGA regulations for damage compensation and financing tools to support farming incomes.

According to Tsiaras, 20 of 27 demands made by farmers had been met or were in the process of being resolved but this framework for dialogue, which had originally been accepted, was then rejected and farmers were now preparing to block roads with tractors before Christmas, hampering safe travel by people visiting family in the villages and creating uncertainty in the market, causing problems for the self-employed, businesses and workers, especially in non-urban areas.

"Blockades and obstinacy benefit neither the farmers, nor society. Dialogue is not a retreat, it is an act of responsibility and the only path to sustainable solutions," he added, saying the government was there to shape the solutions to issues that are still outstanding and to reduce the pressure on farming incomes, using all available European resources within the limits of the budget.