"We are experiencing a new reality, especially in the Mediterranean", Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Friday, addressing Parliament in reply to a question on the primary sector tabled by the leader of main opposition PASOK-Movement for Change, Nikos Androulakis, for the prime minister.
"I cannot help but comment on the fact that the practice of providing limitless funds to cooperatives without any controls started under your governance," Mitsotakis noted, referring to past PASOK governments.
He also said that it was hypocritical for the main opposition to claim that the government seeks to dismiss farmers. "All of that, Mr. Androulakis, is nothing more than nihilistic protest slogans. Reality refutes them," the prime minister emphasised.
Mitsotakis cited specific measures for reducing farmers' taxes and how the government listened to the demands of producers last year when they went on strike. He explained that the majority of the farmers' demands were met, but there was no magical way to reduce the price of energy to 5 or 3 cents, or to provide it for free.
More specifically, he noted that the Hellenic Organisation of Agricultural Insurances (ELGA) has paid 294 million euros to farmers and livestock breeders. "Let's talk honestly about whether ELGA made compensation payments so quickly in the past," the prime minister added.
Mitsotakis noted that a year earlier, Greece had proposed the establishment of a special fund for natural disasters because the European fund is extremely limited. "Where we can agree with the leader of the main opposition is that we cannot deal with agricultural production on the terms of another era, focusing sometimes on subsidies, sometimes on regulations. Our aim is to increase productivity and the added value of our products," he emphasised.
He underlined that what we used to call 'farming' must be developed into a modern pillar, linked to tourism and exports. "We must convince farmers that significant change and important investments are needed, and we have undertaken such initiatives," he added.
"We have launched organised cooperation programmes with countries such as Egypt - we have the first 5,000 workers - the same applies to Bangladesh. Transfers should be made to where we need labour. We must have a quick, simple process that safely creates legal migration channels," he noted.