Greek Government Threatens Force To Stop Protesting Farmers

Jan. 15—The government of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has issued a 48-hour ultimatum to protesting farmers, declaring that his government will take police action against them unless they lift the roadblocks they are creating. The ultimatum follows the government’s failure to break the unity of the various farmer organizations. Many of the farmer organizations are led by members of Mitsotakis’s own New Democracy party, though there are more militant farmer organizations.

On Jan. 13 Mitsotakis met with farmers who had been manning 14 roadblocks; 60 others refused to attend. Nonetheless, the 3.5-hour meeting was marked by complaints and raised voices. The farmers were demanding the release of the subsidies owed to them, relief from paying fuel taxes, and guaranteed prices, among other demands, none of which the government was willing to grant. In fact, after the meeting Mitsotakis issued the ultimatum to groups continuing to block roads, warning that authorities could intervene as early as today—an obvious threat to use force against the farmers.

In a statement, he accused the farmers of “openly blackmailing society.” Government sources told the Kathimerini daily that continued blockades would lead to the application of the law, including possible police action.

Farmers who did not attend the meeting with Mitsotakis are considering to send tractors to Athens and seek talks with the prime minister using the representative line-up they initially suggested.

Mitsotakis offered the farmers tax relief on fuel and other taxes, but indicated neither how much nor whether the farmers at the meetings accepted the offer.

Meanwhile taxi drivers in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city, initiated a two-day strike Jan. 13, in protest of the government’s demand for the transition to electric cars by the end of 2026. Taxi drivers own their own taxis in a country that has one of the lowest living standards. The drivers are demanding that the transition be extended to 2035.