Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke today at the Government Council on Economic Policy and stood on the developments with farmers, saying that he understands their dissatisfaction as they have seen delays in their payments. However, he noted that compared to 2024, they will receive half a billion euros. He noted that they will receive half a euro more. Specifically, total payments will reach 3.7 billion euros, compared to 3.1 billion euros in 2024.

In addition, the prime minister said, “I absolutely separate those who have not been paid due to cross-checks from those who are not entitled to the subsidy.” On the farmers’ blockades in recent days, he noted: “We are always open to a coordinated dialogue. Extreme actions do not help their effort. We have met farmers’ demands on other occasions as well.”

According to government sources, a complete roadmap is expected to be presented at the CSOI, with projects being implemented across the country and a series of initiatives for convergence and removing disparities in the regions. All of the above are included in the National Strategy for Regional and Local Development, which will be the main topic of tomorrow’s meeting.

The main pillar of the National Strategy is the resolution of immediate issues concerning the Greek periphery and the formulation within 2026 of a national programme for the whole country for the coming years, in cooperation with local communities, so that the country can target national and EU resources most optimally and efficiently to the Greek periphery.

To this end, 50 Local Development Plans are being prepared, one for each regional unit of the country, which will be completed in 2026 in combination with horizontal policies concerning the economic and social development of the region. This project is being “run” by Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister Thanasis Kontogeorgis.