After the farmers’ tractors, the beekeepers’ trucks take their turn to “park” their protest at Syntagma.
At eight in the morning today, beekeepers from all over the country will gather at Syntagma Square, with the planning of their Federation to include a motorized march with the participation of 20 beekeeping trucks and meetings at the Ministries of Rural Development, Civil Protection, and Transport.
At the same time, at their blockades, farmers are preparing for assemblies today to decide on the future of their mobilizations.
Beekeepers from all over the country had made an appointment at the Isthmus of Corinth at 6am, with the aim of starting a march from there with trucks, cars and buses to Syntagma Square, where they have planned a rally for 8am.
The plan is to request meetings with the relevant ministers and deliver a petition to the parliament, as well as to remain at Syntagma until late in the evening.
According to the Panhellenic Coordination of Beekeepers’ Mobilizations, some of their demands are:
– Importation (Administrative measures for the full traceability of imported honey)
– Cost of production (fuel de-taxation, maintenance of a tax-free regime for farmers)
– Removal of restrictive Fire Regulations, which take away our right to work
– Lifting restrictions on local Foresters. Placement of beehives, as stipulated in Law 6238/1934
– Movement of beekeeping trucks on the roadside
The farmers
Meanwhile, the farmers, who yesterday afternoon symbolically blocked the Evzona Customs House for two hours, are starting their blockade meetings again this afternoon.
The aim is to decide whether they will continue their protests and, if so, how.
However, the possibility of a new rally in Athens and other cities is also on the table.
What is certain, however, is that they will continue their mobilisations at least until 26 February, the day on which the Prime Minister will be in Brussels, in order to give him this means of putting pressure on the EU, as he himself described their protests.
They are also calling for a new meeting with Kyriakos Mitsotakis, as they believe that further fiscal space can be found, although the prime minister has ruled it out.
While most farmers are waiting for the outcome of the nationwide meeting to see how to move, those in western Greece are proposing a new rally in Athens, while Macedonians insist on road blockades.
The Thessaly farmers are the ones who are oriented towards opening a dialogue with the government, while a meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss individual demands related to the disasters caused by the floods of Daniel in the region is not excluded.
