“I regret that the meeting was not held earlier due to the stubbornness of some. I never asked what everyone was voting for. I will make announcements on electricity, NCR, alfalfa, and land ownership immediately afterwards.” With these words yesterday afternoon, as protothema.gr, and after 3.5 hours of exhaustive discussion with farmers and ranchers from all over Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis concluded a meeting that had content and symbolism.

The key message was that when one approaches dialogue in good faith, one comes out a winner. And on substance, however, the government offered improvements in electricity regulation, zero VAT on rural oil at the pump, and more interventions to make up for lost income.

“I am not interested in political management. I am interested in the actual progress of the primary sector. Blockades won’t get us far,” Mitsotakis also reportedly said in his closing statement, and before the primary sector representatives who made the trip to Maximou left.

One of them, and a particularly experienced one, the Thessaloniki-based Christos Tsilias, was the first to speak at the meeting, saying that “it was wrong that we had not come to a dialogue for 43 days,” but also firing back at the government for the problematic payments of OPEKEPE. “We faced the perfect storm with OPEKEPE,” Mitsotakis reportedly replied, pledging that for him the battle in Brussels over the new Common Agricultural Policy would be a “flagship”.

“I have burned a lot of political capital in the EU on farmers’ issues, but we will also fight with the Commission on the ownership of land,” Mitsotakis said at another point, referring to the famous… ATAK, which is a point of concern for many producers, especially in Northern Greece.

In this way, Mitsotakis appeared open to discussion, provided there is a good intention. “Developments are shaped by those present and not by those absent,” Mitsotakis had said in an opening statement, while in the coming days – probably the week after next – he will see a delegation of farmers, so that a more detailed discussion on the smallpox issue can take place. And today at 11:30 a.m., a meeting is scheduled at the vice-presidency with Vice President Kostis Hatzidakis and Rural Development Minister Kostas Tsiaras, and producers from Northern Greece on the issue of the ATAK. Of course, fiscal constraints are a given; Mitsotakis made that clear in the discussion, saying, “We will look for smart solutions.”

The measures

However, those who went to the Maximou Mansion yesterday did not leave empty-handed. And the measures may apply to everyone, but the participants are the ones who are communicatively credited with the additional announcements, which the “hard” blockades say they will… evaluate.

As for the measures, a key regulation is for cheap agricultural electricitywhich is set at 8.5 cents/Kwh. Those who were out of regulation and had outstanding debts, as long as they are current for a year, will be included in the low price. Given that the GAIA program is valid from August 2024, some will join immediately and some in the following months. There is also an open window to rejoin GAIA until March for those who defaulted, but they too will have to be current for one year and will be on the low rate from spring 2027.

As for agricultural oil, the discount that will apply at the pump is further improved with the abolition of the EAFC. It is recalled that for this year, the system with invoices and subsidy at 100% of consumption will be in force, while from November 2026, based on the new ODS declarations, the new system with electronic application on mobile phones and at petrol stations will apply. Now, in addition to the VAT, the VAT due is deducted, so the benefit amounts to EUR 0.5/litre.

Approximately 30 million euros will be received by those who grow clover, as they suffered a large loss due to smallpox (loss of income due to the grubbing up of flocks). It was a key demand, as both livestock farmers and cotton and wheat farmers were included in the lost income replacement scheme. Also, for the livestock farmers, the government has already committed to support them also in 2026 for lost income replacement, as it is considered unlikely that they will be able to reconstitute their herds.

Managing the “hard”

Attention is now turning to the blockade hardliners, who are meeting but are also weighing the prospect of taking tractors to Athens next week. “A party minority is insisting on some of the blockades, openly blackmailing society,” Mitsotakis said after yesterday’s meeting, with obvious irritation at the third “no vote” the blockades threw at a meeting with him.

In theory, there is a chance of a new meeting in the coming days, as government officials believe that the agricultural unionists are also at an impasse and are seeking a release valve. But this is not being done under blackmail and with the roads on lockdown, according to government officials.

In the government, they estimate that there will gradually be withdrawals from the blockades, but they also let the threat of administrative and criminal sanctions hang like a sword of Damocles. It is unlikely that there will be any harsher action today, but the authorities’ attitude will gradually become more rigid. Competent sources consider it unlikely that tractors will be allowed to descend on the centre of Athens, although they estimate that it will not get that far.