The double maneuver for a new Mitsotakis–Farmers meeting

The prospect of a new meeting between Kyriakos Mitsotakis and farmers from the road blockades remains open, though it has not yet been finalized.

From the very next hour after the prime minister’s meeting with the group of “willing” farmers, a communication channel opened between the government and the blockades, via the Minister of Rural Development, Kostas Tsiaras, despite the harsh statements exchanged on both sides.

The nationwide coordination of the blockades, which met yesterday at noon in Palamas, Karditsa, once again requested a meeting with the prime minister. Not, however, with the two committees that had been designated at the previous assembly in Nikaia, but with a single committee of 25 farmers and livestock breeders, along with six observers, so as not to exceed the participation limit set by the Maximos Mansion. It also refrained from deciding on a rally and the descent of tractors into Athens, as proposed by the Nikaia blockade, in yet another gesture of goodwill.

Initially, the stance of the Maximos Mansion was clearly negative. The prime minister’s team had, after all, decided that it wanted “dialogue” only with farmers aligned with the government. Indeed, at the very time the nationwide blockade coordination was meeting in Palamas, Karditsa, Deputy Prime Minister Kostis Hatzidakis, Mr. Tsiaras, and Minister of Digital Governance Dimitris Papastergiou held another meeting with “selected” farmers from Macedonia to discuss problems related to ATAK declarations.

It now appears, however, that the government realized there is little point in shaking hands with farmers who, in any case, do not influence the blockades. Threats of police, administrative, and disciplinary measures may satisfy a segment of government officials and voters, but in practice matters are far from simple. No state mechanism in the world can tow thousands of tractors off a national highway, and for fines to be imposed, the tractors must bear license plates so that their owners can be identified.

Nor is it easy for the government to convince farmers that only the “willing” union leaders deliver results. Because if the blockades had not existed, the “willing” farmers would not have gone to the Maximos Mansion either, nor would they have secured whatever improvements were made to the measures—measures that the government announced in any case precisely because of the farmers’ mobilizations.

The Government’s “One and a Half” Conditions for a New Meeting

Thus, bargaining resumed with the aim of arranging a meeting between Mr. Mitsotakis and the new blockade committee on Friday, or, if that proves impossible, on Monday. For now, however, no meeting has been finalized, as the government insists on… one and a half of the conditions it had set.

First, for negotiations to proceed, the government expects the blockades to be lifted today. Second, from the government’s side, there is insistence that the committee cannot include individuals who have been recorded engaging in unlawful behavior—specifically pointing to the president of the Magnesia Livestock Breeders’ Association, Kostas Terzakis.

It appears, however, that the question of whether farmers who are under review by the competent authorities over subsidy issues will participate in the blockade delegation is ultimately negotiable. Initially, government officials had argued that the prime minister could not meet with individuals who have pending legal issues.

In this context, they pointed to the head of the Malgara blockade, Kostas Anestidis, who has nevertheless denied that his assets were frozen due to an audit by the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) and has hinted at retaliatory actions by the government because he did not intervene on behalf of the Maximos Mansion within the blockades.

Information suggests, however, that the government will ultimately not impose a veto, provided that the nationwide blockade coordination insists on the participation of farmers who are reportedly under investigation, and provided that this is the only point of disagreement in discussions over a meeting between the committee and the prime minister.

From the government’s side, however, efforts are being made to persuade the nationwide blockade coordination to deliberately leave out certain farm union figures, with the argument that “they themselves should also protect themselves from certain individuals.”