|
Convoys of tractors blocked routes to North Macedonia, Bulgaria
and Turkey forcing drivers into lengthy detours.
Farmers also took to the streets over the weekend, blocking
roads in several areas.
Protests by farmers are common in Greece, but the latest unrest
erupted over delays in subsidy payments in the wake revelations
of fraudulent claims for EU funds.
The scandal prompted the resignation in June of five senior
government officials and the phased shutdown of a state agency
that handled agricultural subsidies.
Michalis Chrisochoidis, a minister for public order, said this
week the government remained open to talks with protest leaders
but warned that it would not tolerate the shutdown of major
transit points, including ports and railway hubs.
Dozens of people have been arrested across Greece in recent
weeks for allegedly filing false claims, in response to an
investigation led by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The independent EU body that deals with financial crime said at
the end of October that the investigation was linked to “a
systematic large-scale subsidy fraud scheme and money-laundering
activities.”
Greece's farming sector has been hit this year by the subsidy
delays and an outbreak of goat and sheep pox that led to a mass
cull of livestock.
Protest organizers vowed Wednesday to expand protests, urging
the government to speed up an overhaul of agriculture subsidy
assessments.
“The poorer we get, the more determined we become. There is no
turning back. We have to solve these problems or there’s no
future for us," Kostas Tzelas, a member of the national blockade
committee, based in central Greece, told the AP.
“The money was stolen by opportunists,” he said. “The state
should take the money back and give it to the farmers.”
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
|
|
