Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has set 1 November as the government’s target date for introducing tax-free agricultural diesel directly at the pump, announcing the timetable during a visit to Larissa. The measure is intended to provide immediate relief to farmers by reducing production costs and easing pressure on their cash flow.

The key change concerns how the tax relief will be delivered. Instead of paying the tax upfront and waiting for a refund, farmers would benefit from the exemption when refuelling, reducing the financial strain on their working capital.

The announcement came during a meeting between Mitsotakis and a delegation of farmers in Nees Karyes, near Larissa, shortly before the inauguration of a standalone energy storage facility developed by METLEN Energy & Metals and the Karatzis Group.

The prime minister linked the pressures facing the agricultural sector to uncertainty in the international environment, stressing that it remained unclear how long the current crisis would last.

“Dialogue is ongoing and starts early. We are facing an international crisis, and we do not know how long it will last. I am here to listen to you and discuss how we can move forward,” Mitsotakis said.

Outstanding issues and the agricultural subsidy system

The next step is to finalise the procedures required to make the new system operational, with technical implementation details and arrangements for verifying eligible beneficiaries still to be clarified. Although Mitsotakis outlined the intended launch date, he did not present a fully developed implementation mechanism.

The meeting also addressed problems with Greece’s Integrated Administration and Control System (OSDE), which Mitsotakis described as a top priority. The outstanding issues affect the distribution of agricultural subsidies and, consequently, farmers’ financial planning. No timetable was announced for resolving these problems.