Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has all but announced that he will take a hard line against the protesting farmers. As farmers announced yesterday that they will intensify their protests and blockades of national highways, Mistotakis sent a message to the farmers warning them that “no one can blackmail society, no matter how fair the demand may be.” He added that he will only meet the farmers if there are no roadblocks and disruptions. “No one should feel that a social group can be given preferential treatment because it can shout more and demonstrate more vigorously,” he was quoted in Kathimerini as saying.
Reflecting his subservience to Washington, he made similar statements at a meeting a day earlier, when he spoke with the president of the Hellenic American Chamber Nikolaos Bakatselos. Since he also takes his orders from the EU in Brussels, he explained that the farmers’ demands go beyond the “fiscal margins” of the government, which are defined by Brussels and Athens’ international creditors.
