Greek farmers plan to hold a rally in Athens early next week, stepping up action after weeks of protests over rising energy costs and competition from abroad, their unions said on Thursday.
\nSharing many of the same grievances as farmers in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland and Italy, Greek farmers have gathered with their tractors across the country in recent weeks, briefly blocking roads and border crossings for freight trucks.
\nThe government proposed further support on Tuesday for the sector, including cheaper electricity for two years, on top of a one-year extension of a tax rebate for agricultural diesel announced last week. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis noted that Greece does also have fiscal constraints.
\nBut farmers said the measures were not enough and their unions met in the central city of Larissa on Thursday to decide their next moves.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve decided to organise a big rally with our tractors and cars in Athens on Tuesday,\u201d Rizos Maroudas, head of the farmers union in Larissa, told reporters after the meeting.
\n(Reuters)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Greek farmers are planning to hold a rally in Athens to protest rising energy costs and competition from abroad. They have been protesting for weeks, blocking roads and border crossings with their tractors. The government has proposed support measures, including cheaper electricity and a tax rebate for agricultural diesel, but the farmers say it is not enough. They will hold a rally in Athens next week to further voice their grievances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3091,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[426,3,553,358,379,407,499,415,747,419,463,577,453,618,18],"class_list":["post-3090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-competition","tag-cyprus","tag-electricity","tag-energy","tag-eu","tag-farmers","tag-france","tag-government","tag-greece","tag-italy","tag-protest","tag-protests","tag-roads","tag-top","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n