The government of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has issued an 48-hour ultimatum to protesting Greek farmers, declaring that his government will take police action against them unless they lift the roadblocks they are creating. The ultimatum follows the government’s failure to break the unity of the various farmer organizations. Many of the farmer organizations are led by members of Mitsotakis’s own New Democracy party, though there are more militant farmer organizations.
On Jan. 13 Mitsotakis met with farmers who had been manning 14 roadblocks; 60 others refused to attend. Nonetheless the 3.5-hour meeting was marked by complaints and raised voices. The farmers were demanding the release of the subsidies owed to them, relief from paying fuel taxes, and guaranteed prices, among other demands, none of which the government was willing to grant. In fact, after the meeting Mitsotakis issued the ultimatum to groups continuing to block roads, warning that authorities could intervene as early as Jan. 15—an obvious threat to use force against the farmers.
In a statement he accused the farmers of “openly blackmailing society.” Government sources told the Kathimerini daily that continued blockades would lead to the application of the law, including possible police action.
