Arguments about Greece’s farming sector are escalating on highways and on the floor of parliament.
As farmer protests and blockades begin to break out across Greece, Parliament witnessed a heated exchange between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis over the future of the country’s agricultural management.
Androulakis launched a scathing critique of the government’s handling of the agricultural sector, accusing it of mismanagement and a lack of planning. “You have failed completely in the sixth year of your governance,” he asserted, pointing to rising production costs, delays in compensation to farmers, and shrinking rural populations. He painted a dire picture of ghost villages deserted by younger generations, driven to migrate either within Greece or abroad.
Androulakis critiqued Mitsotakis’ recent appointment of a retired judge as the president of the Payment and Control Agency for Guidance and Guarantee Community Aid (OPEKEPE), the organization which oversees farmer subsidies, as indicative of opacity and mismanagement.
The PASOK leader proposed a framework to protect agricultural land, reduce costs, and revitalize rural communities. “The cost of production is rising rapidly, and farmers are left at the mercy of funds threatening to seize their land,” Androulakis said. He advocated for a cap on agricultural input costs, the abolition of the agricultural excise tax, and linking the agricultural sector to tourism as part of PASOK’s vision for the future.
In a forceful rebuttal, Prime Minister Mitsotakis dismissed Androulakis’s criticisms as “nihilistic protest slogans” and accused center-left PASOK of aligning with left-wing SYRIZA’s approach. “With what you say, you can move to the SYRIZA benches to prove what we say: that you are the green SYRIZA,” he quipped. (PASOK’s party color is green.)
Mitsotakis highlighted his government’s achievements, including subsidies to farmers, enhanced disaster response funding, and international labor agreements to address worker shortages in the agricultural sector. “We have moved forward with cooperation with countries such as Egypt, where we have already sourced 5,000 workers,” he stated.
He also announced forthcoming regulations aimed at resolving 700 cooperative bad loans and 21,000 farmer loans, allowing for refinancing.
“Our aim is to build a modern agricultural economy as a productive pillar linked to exports and tourism,” Mitsotakis explained, emphasizing the need for better training for farmers. “We have established six public agricultural institutes because the modern farmer must be a flexible entrepreneur.”
With protests looming and tensions in rural Greece reaching a boiling point, the sharp exchange in Parliament reflects the divide over management of the country’s agricultural sector.
Farmers’ groups and unions are demanding that the state reimburse lost income from higher production costs but lower crop prices. They are also demanding tax-free diesel fuel, a ceiling on electricity rates for agricultural uses, capped at seven cents per Kwh, subsidized fertilizers, supplies and animal feed.