Press Office Announcement of SYRIZA–Progressive Alliance, Thousands of farmers and livestock breeders left without subsidies, while the “blue locusts” cruise around in Porsche and Ferrari
The government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis has produced yet another fiasco — this time at the expense of farmers and livestock breeders — exposing the true face of a ruling power concerned only with its public image, not with the countryside that is collapsing under its feet.
Following the OPEKEPE scandal, which deprived thousands of producers of the subsidies they were entitled to in order to benefit the government’s “friends,” the administration now returns with yet another act of contempt and mockery toward the people who keep rural Greece alive.
Despite the commitments of the Ministry of Rural Development, only €363 million were credited to farmers’ accounts, instead of the €580 million allotted for the Basic Payment Scheme. In other words, a shortfall of €217 million. Thousands of beneficiaries received nothing at all due to “technical problems,” while at the same time ELGA imposed automatic charges, wiping out the amounts that were actually deposited for many producers.
As if that were not enough, sheep pox is sweeping through flocks, pushing livestock breeders into despair and threatening what remains of the country’s productive base. The situation in rural communities is bleak. Lifetimes of work are vanishing, the countryside is emptying, and entire regions are being stripped of people and prospects. Under the responsibility of New Democracy, Greece is becoming increasingly Athens-centric, suffering from a deep demographic and productive deficit.
Let us speak plainly. The collapse of the primary sector is neither “misfortune” nor a “technical mistake.” It is the direct result of specific government choices that left producers unprotected against profiteering, without tools, without rules, without fairness. It stems from a political approach that sees the regions not as the foundation of development but as a burden.
Across Greek rural life, farming and livestock breeding are not merely economic activities; they are the social fabric, the jobs, the identity, the future of entire communities. The current government is letting that world fall apart.
SYRIZA–Progressive Alliance will continue to expose the scale of governmental incompetence and the political motives that drive it. The government may choose indifference and allow the primary sector to slide into ruin, but the bill will eventually come due. And this time, it will be delivered to the one truly responsible: the Mitsotakis government.
