Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met on Thursday at the Maximos Mansion with members of the Board of Directors of the National Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (EΘEΑΣ).

During the meeting, the importance of the bill for regulating “bad” loans for cooperatives and farmers was emphasized, aiming to reactivate productive assets that are currently frozen or inactive due to old debts, with the goal of further strengthening the primary sector.

The draft law, which will be presented to the plenary of the Parliament next week and was shaped in cooperation with the Bank of Greece (ΤτΕ), provides for the possibility of partial debt forgiveness, an extension of the repayment schedule, and a reduction in interest rates. It also includes provisions for managing agricultural loans by specialized managers who understand the specific characteristics of the sector.

Watch a video from the meeting:

“As we committed and have discussed in detail, we are submitting to the Parliament the new framework for the regulation of ‘bad’ loans of farmers and agricultural cooperatives. You know very well, because we discussed it first, how much relief this brings for problems and pending issues that have been around for a long time. It is an important regulation for hundreds of cooperatives and over 20,000 farmers,” said the Prime Minister at the start of the meeting.

The members of the EΘEΑΣ noted that the bill responds to their long-standing requests and emphasized the importance of restoring trust in cooperatives through such legislative interventions.

The Prime Minister highlighted the government’s commitment to supporting farmers and livestock breeders, reminding them that the main demands raised by the sector in recent years, such as the permanent return of the fuel excise tax (EΦΚ) on agricultural diesel and the reduction of energy costs, have already been met.

“If we go back a little in time, to the discussions we had a year ago at this table, I remember that the main requests of the primary sector were the EΦΚ and its return. That has been regulated, and in fact, we are more generous than what we initially thought we could do. And the issue of electricity costs, where now, with the program we have presented, there is a price which is certainly competitive,” the Prime Minister said in his opening remarks. “It’s a good price, practically lower than the cost, which gives our farmers at least some predictability regarding production costs,” he added.

As for the return of the EΦΚ, the €100 million cap has been eliminated, and through the GAIΑ program, producers secure electricity at clearly below the cost of a kilowatt-hour on the wholesale market, providing them with a stable and predictable framework for planning their operations.

Other topics discussed included the possibilities for increasing the external orientation of the primary sector and the prospects for penetrating foreign markets where there is high demand for quality agri-food products, both in Asia and America.

The meeting was attended by Minister of National Economy and Finance Kostis Hatzidakis, Minister of Rural Development and Food Kostas Tsiaras, Minister of State Makis Voridis, and Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister Thanasis Kontogeorgis. From the Bank of Greece, Deputy Governor Christina Papakonstantinou participated. From EΘEΑΣ, the President Pavlos Satolias, Vice President Christos Giannakakis, General Secretary Thomas Koutsoupias, Board Member Christos Tsitsirigos, and the General Director of the Union Moschos Korasidis took part.