A crucial dialogue between the Greek government and protesting farmers appeared near collapse on Monday after hardline union blocs from Thessaly rejected Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ terms for a meeting, threatening instead to escalate road blockades and stage a tractor rally in Athens.
The standoff intensified just 24 hours before the scheduled talks, with the powerful Thessaly Farmers’ Federation (EOASK) declaring it would boycott the session unless the government abandoned its plan to split representatives into two separate groups.
Kostas Tzellas, head of the federation, accused the government of “mockery and deception,” arguing that dividing crop farmers from livestock breeders and beekeepers was a tactical maneuver designed to fracture their movement.
“This shows they don’t want dialogue or solutions,” Mr. Tzellas told a gathering of protesters in central Greece. “All they care about is getting us off the roads.”
He warned that unless the prime minister agreed to meet a single, unified delegation of 35 representatives by Tuesday morning, the farmers would not travel to Athens.
Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis swiftly rejected the ultimatum.
“The government and the prime minister do not operate under threats,” Mr. Marinakis said, defending the two-meeting format as a necessary measure to ensure practical, sector-specific discussions.
He noted that the separation was originally requested by some farming groups themselves to ensure their distinct issues—such as the sheep pox outbreak affecting livestock—were not sidelined.
The breakdown raises the specter of severe disruption.
While a nationwide assembly in Nikaia on Saturday had initially ruled out a descent on Athens to give diplomacy a chance, organizers said Monday that a tractor march on Syntagma Square is now back on the table if the talks fail.