As night fell on Tuesday, February 20, Syntagma Square, located opposite the Greek Parliament in Athens, was transformed into an unusual gathering. Over 8,000 angry farmers from the four corners of Greece converged on the square with around 100 tractors. The air was filled with the blaring of horns and the chanting of provocative slogans like “Without us, what will you eat?” and “Without farmers, no future!”
Thanassis Prassas has been taking part in the protest for the past 30 days and did not hesitate to make the journey to Athens from the flood-stricken region of Thessaly in September 2023. “Despite promises, five months on we still haven’t been fully reimbursed, and we don’t know whether we’ll be able to farm our land again. There’s still four meters of water around Lake Karla, where our farms are located.” Storm Daniel, which claimed 17 lives, also flooded nearly 73,000 hectares of land, according to the European Commission’s Copernicus emergency management service, and wiped out more than 80,000 livestock.
Prassas, who owns almond trees, pistachio trees and cornfields, is not discouraged. “We want the tax on fuel [non-road diesel] to be abolished. Other European countries have adopted this measure, and for us who have small farms and are struggling to make ends meet, it’s essential!”
Lower electricity bills and VAT
Energy prices rose by around 50% between 2020 and 2023, according to the Greek Statistics Authority. Energy costs between 2020 and 2021 amounted to between 20% and 25% of the average income earned by all farms in the country.
On February 13, representatives of the agricultural unions were received by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. He announced a series of measures such as lower electricity bills for farmers for the next 10 years, which will be implemented on April 1, as well as the reduction of VAT on fertilizers and animal feed, which is expected to fall from the current 13% to 6%.
The prime minister also assured that financial aid for farmers affected by the natural disasters would be paid out rapidly at the end of February. After initial emergency aid of €2,000 and €4,000 paid to farmers and livestock breeders respectively in 2023, the government promised further aid which is now to be increased to €5,000 and €10,000. On Tuesday, prior to the farmers’ arrival in Athens, the prime minister announced on Star TV that he had “nothing more to give” to farmers, as he felt the country’s financial margins were limited.
‘An untenable situation’
It was a statement that did not go unnoticed by the protesters. Dimitris Tsioulakos owns almost 2,000 peach trees in Naoussa, northern Greece, and is struggling to get by. “The decision to abolish fuel taxes has already been made for shipowners, so why not for farmers too? Where there’s a will, there’s a way!” he said indignantly.
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