Greek farmers protest over high production costs in Athens

Thousands of farmers protested in the center of Athens on Tuesday over increased production costs, requesting more state aid to stay in business, reported Xinhua.

"No farmers, no food, no future," farmers chanted after several weeks of symbolic blockades in national highways and border crossings, driving some 150 tractors in front of the parliament.

The mobilizations of farmers in many European countries this winter is a battle for survival, unionists said in press statements.

"They force us to leave our land. Let us make a living," Paschalis, one of the protesters who intend to stay in the streets of Athens overnight, told Xinhua.

In 2023, electricity costs increased by 84 percent, and the prices of fertilizers have also skyrocketed, local media quoted Giannis Vagkos, one of the unionists, as saying.

Farmers' unions have had several rounds of talks lately with the Greek government. The government has announced a package of measures aimed at easing farmers' burden, including immediate compensations for damages from natural disasters, as well as lower prices and tax relief for electricity and fuel used in the primary sector.

But protesters on Tuesday said the measures were inadequate to help them continue cultivating their fields. They ask for more generous discounts in energy costs; more subsidies on supplies, fertilizers and animal feed; more protection of domestic production from "unfair competition" by stopping the labelling of non-Greek-made produce as Greek.

And 54.2 percent of people supported their call for more aid, according to an opinion poll released on Monday on local Action 24 television channel.

But the government said that currently, there is no fiscal room to give more.

On Tuesday, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with visiting European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and discussed a series of issues, including the demonstrations of farmers from France to Poland and Greece in recent weeks, according to a government statement.

"They are making many requests, which I think are fair, about the speed of green transition in the primary sector," Mitsotakis said during the meeting.

"It is important to address this pan-European situation and make it clear that we intend to leave nobody behind," said Metsola.