Source: AFP
Hundreds of Greek farmers rallied Thursday in the country’s second city, Thessaloniki, to demand increased aid, as similar protests intensify across Europe.
About 300 tractors and dozens of beekeepers’ trucks gathered at an annual agricultural fair in the city’s municipal center, AFP reporters reported.
They came mainly from Thessaly, the main rural area that was devastated by the floods last year.
“The two main problems we face are the increase in production costs and the new European agricultural pact,” Diamantis Diamantopoulos, head of a farming association in the northeastern town of Serres, near Thessaloniki, told AFP.
He claimed that the European agriculture budget for Greece “has decreased by 550 million euros ($595 million) since 2013” and continues to decrease.
In recent weeks, farmers also briefly blocked highways to demand lower taxes, cheaper electricity and fuel, and stronger import controls.
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![](https://images.yen.com.gh/images/0fe1bee4282a48b9.jpg?impolicy=cropped-image&imwidth=256)
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Defiant French farmers stay at the barricades
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis offered on Tuesday to speed up financial aid to farmers in a bid to head off protests.
He said growers affected by natural disasters would receive an additional five to 10,000 euros ($5,400-$10,800) on top of the 2,000 euros already paid.
The conservative leader also met protesting farmers during a tour of the dam project in western Greece, pledging to do his best within budget constraints to help the sector.
A growing movement of farmer discontent is spreading across Europe, with unrest in France, Germany, Belgium, Poland, Romania and the Netherlands, as the EU tries to address concerns ahead of European Parliament elections this year.
Source: AFP