“Dialogue with the convenient”: how the government itself ruined negotiations with farmers

Massive criticism of the government turned around after disruption of the meeting prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis with representatives of the agrarian blockades, who played a key role in the protest mobilizations. Negotiations actually failed complete collapse due to the government.

After the authorities, according to farmers, engaged in outright manipulationthe Prime Minister agreed to meet only with representatives of so-called “loyal” or “convenient” farmer groups.

This line of behavior caused sharp irritation of the vast majority of the agricultural worldas well as a barrage of criticism from the parliamentary opposition, which accuses the government of deliberately undermining the dialogue.

PASOK: “The government again did not act in the interests of the country”

Representative ΠΑΣΟΚ Michalis Karkhimakis, speaking on MEGA, emphasized that the authorities have not done even the minimum necessary to resolve the crisis.

According to him, no farmer wanted to stand on the roads for months and freezehowever, the government has not proposed clear, concrete measures for more than 60 days: cheap agricultural electricity, a price ceiling for fertilizers, land protection from auctions and the abolition of fuel taxes.

Karchimakis recalled that the crisis is unfolding against the backdrop of warnings from leading European institutions about risk of food crisis in EUwith Greece named one of the most vulnerable countries.

“Instead of solutions, we saw communication games. This government does not believe in small and medium-sized landownership or small businesses,” he said, pointing to data on mass closures of small businesses and the conclusions of the Pissaridis report.

SYRIZA: “Divide and conquer”

SYRIZA spokesman Giorgos Karameros accused the government of systematic tactics “διαίρει και βασίλευε” (Divide and conquer) applies to all social groups.

According to him, the authorities are deliberately trying choose convenient interlocutorsdiscrediting the rest through media pressure, inspections and accusations of “violations.”

Karameros recalled that it is the government that is responsible for the blocked roads and escalation, and also demanded an agreement ΕΕ–Mercosur to be discussed openly in parliament as it threatens to completely destroy Greek agriculture.

New Democracy: “There is also a political calculation”

Member of the ruling party ND Stelios Markopoulos said that some agricultural leaders act with party motivationstriving not for solutions, but to aggravate the situation.

He stressed that the government is not obliged to give in to “absurd demands” and that the issue was not supposed to come down to the number of representatives at the negotiating table.

According to Markopoulos, among the proposed delegates there were allegedly people under investigation, and the government could not allow “the institution of the Prime Minister to be discredited.”

At the same time, his harsh language addressed to farmers – including comparisons with the “Kocabashis of past centuries” – only strengthened the feeling deep gap between the authorities and rural Greece.

The result is obvious: the agrarian crisis has moved from social to open political phaseand the attempt to control it through division and selection of “convenient” interlocutors only aggravated the confrontation.

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