Striking in Greece!

As you may or may not know farmers throughout Greece have been blocking main roads throughout all of Greece as a protest against the government. The reason for this is because the farmers are getting low prices for produce such as corn, wheat and cotton which is ruining their lives. This even affected us here in Serres as we needed to be in Athens for our Mid-Term Evaluation on the 22nd. The only guaranteed way of getting there was by train, and I don't know if you are aware of Greek trains but the can be VERY slow!

 Luckily, however, we managed to book a fast(ish) train at...MIDNIGHT! But despite this we arrived in Athens safely. Now the way back is a whole different story! The blocks had gotten worse and nearly everyone is getting the train to move around Greece. This meant that we didn't know exactly when we would be able to get home. The others who have their EVS Projects in North Greece, including us had to stay in our hotel until the National Agency managed to book us a ticket.

 Fortunately we had a train the next day at... MIDNIGHT! Deja vu anyone? While it may sound as if I'm joking about it you can see the serious side. Loads of people are rushing and have no idea what is happening. It just goes to show that just by blocking roads with tractors can send the whole country into dissarray. The most recent event is that roads to Bulgaria have been blocked and lorry drivers fear their goods will spoil.


 Bulgaria has asked the European Commission to intervene as its hauliers are losing money and demand to have a passage opened. Bulgaria's main road transport association, Basat, says it will sue the Greek state. It's estimated that by Saturday the blocks have caused Bulgaria losses of nearly 10 million Euros.

 The length of this protest is yet unknown as the farmers' leaders say they do not intend to stop their protest until the government meets all their demands. Greek Agriculture Minister Sotiris Hatzigakis offered 500million Euros and insisted the state could not afford to pay any more. But the farmers turned the offer down as they feel this is too little and also want fixed  subsidies for the future.

Marcus.