Thessaly

Sitting in a small motorboat, farmer Babis Evangelinos glides over land he once cultivated on the Thessaly plain in central Greece, the nearby trunks of his fruitless almond trees submerged by floodwater.

A former Thessaly regional governor, Kostas Agorastos, invoked his right to remain silent on Thursday at the parliamentary investigative committee tasked with probing the fatal train accident in Tempe, central Greece, on February 2023, citing his status as a defendant in the ongoing case. 

Most of the farmers are determined to continue their mobilizations; however, some now believe that further escalation is not going to yield the results they want.

Thessaly farmers announced on Wednesday their decision to lift a tractor roadblock but underlined they remain unsatisfied and request a meeting with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
 

While the news focus is firmly on the farmers' protests across Greece, attention on the dire situation in one region, in Thessaly, has somewhat faded, except for the locals, who are still awaiting a recovery plan five months after the disastrous floods that destroyed many properties, killed livestock and eroded the soil.

Mobilizations are expected on Tuesday in areas of Thessaly while the Prime Minister will have talks with farmers' representatives at Maximou.

Protesting farmers have continued to mobilize across the country ahead of a meeting with the prime minister in Athens on Tuesday.

A former Thessaly regional governor, Kostas Agorastos, is to be prosecuted over charges of dereliction of duty and other misdemeanors in relation to works conducted at the site of the deadly Tempe train disaster, the region's prosecutor's office has announced.

A rapid drop in temperature, frost, gusty winds and snow, even in low-altitude areas, bring the wave of bad weather that has been hitting most parts of the country since Sunday and is expected to peak Monday and Tuesday.

A new wave of bad weather that arrived in Greece on Friday morning is expected to bring thunderstorms and snowfall in low-altitude areas in eastern and central parts of the country.