Rizos Maroudas

Monday's meeting between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and a 15-member committee of farmers from the region of Thessaly in central Greece concluded without substantive answers regarding the timeline for compensating damages caused by last year's floods, according to Rizos Maroudas, president of the United Federation of Agricultural Associations of Larissa.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will meet representatives of Greek farmers on Monday in an effort to resolve long-standing problems of the agricultural sector that have been aggravated by the rising cost of production.

The group of 15 farmers include Rizos Maroudas, president of the Federation of Agricultural Associations of Larissa, who had led the recent mass protests.

After a meeting with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the Maximos Mansion, representatives of protesting farmers have said that their demands have not been met by the government and that their demonstrations, highway road blocks and lifting of toll booth barriers will continue.

Unionists representing farmers in Nikaia, central Greece, are to meet on Monday to discuss whether to scale up their protest action, which has involved road blockades over the past week, if the government does not satisfy their demands for tax breaks and other benefits.

Farmers blocking a key highway in Greece for a second day to demand tax cuts on Tuesday vowed to keep up their protest despite a summons for leaders to appear in court for transport disruptions.

Protest leader Rizos Maroudas on Tuesday accused the left-wing government of seeking their prosecution to avoid the embarrassment of ordering their arrest.

After month-long protests against tax and social security hikes, Greek farmers have ended their blockades of highways and border crossings.

Farmers withdrew their tractors from Nikaia and Platykampos on the Athens-Thessaloniki highway, and also lifted roadblocks in western and central Greece.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met with the representatives of farmers’ roadblocks at Maximos Mansion with strong police presence, while vehicles of riot police block the area close to Maximos Mansion preventing anyone from passing by.

Farmers are preparing for another massive protest rally on Saturday in the center of Athens to protest against government’s proposed social security, pension and tax reforms.