Greek Farmers Threaten to Paralyze the Country

Life at the roadblocks goes on. Greek farmers have formally submitted to the government a renewed list of demands covering all branches of the country’s primary production sector. The list differs little from previous submissions. What has changed, they insist, is their growing anger: according to them, the government has taken no concrete steps to meet any of their demands.

From Nikaia, a key protest hub in Thessaly, farmers made it clear—before a closed-door coordination meeting—that they have no intention of going home unless they win. Farmers, livestock breeders, fishermen and beekeepers say they are fighting not only for themselves, but for the next generation that is at risk of abandoning the countryside altogether.

The “hidden” but biggest demand: staying on the land

Behind the long list of economic claims lies what protesters describe as their most existential demand. Young farmers fear they are being forced to abandon their ancestral land and a profession they love because it is no longer economically viable.
“It’s simply not worth ploughing anymore,” Giorgos Beis, a young farmer and agronomist, tells To Vima.