site.btaProtesting Greek Farmers Prepared to Spend Christmas Blocking Roads with Their Tractors

Protesting Greek farmers said they are prepared to spend Christmas with their tractors on the roads, state broadcaster ERT reported.

According to the broadcaster, the protesters have decided to continue their road blockades, expanding them beyond national highways to include secondary roads and bypass routes.

After a ten-hour blockade for trucks on Thursday, initially announced as open-ended, the Kulata–Promachonas border crossing between Bulgaria and Greece has reopened, and all types of vehicles are now able to pass through.

Protests by farmers and livestock breeders from across the country have been ongoing for 20 days, with varying intensity, despite repeated calls for dialogue from the Greek government and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The farmers have dismissed these calls as “a mockery” and are continuing their protest actions, ERT reported.

The protests erupted over delays in the payment of agricultural subsidies, following a corruption scandal at Greece’s Payment and Control Agency for Guidance and Guarantee Community Aid, OPEKEPE, supervised by the Ministry of Rural Development and Food.

Farmers’ organizations also say that each blockade will independently decide how long a specific road section will remain closed. Agricultural producers at one of the largest blockades, Malgara, have said the possibility of blocking the Thermi interchange remains, while lanes toward Athens remain closed.

Over the weekend, farmers plan to open Oreokastro toll station for several hours. Similar actions are expected in other parts of the country.

Periodic truck blockades are also continuing at the Promachonas and Exochi border crossings with Bulgaria, as well as at Evzoni and Niki on the border with the Republic of North Macedonia.