The National Commission of the striking farmers has another meeting with the minister of agricultural development Sotiris Hadzigakis today at 06:00 pm. The two sides should settle on how the promised by the government 620 million Euros will be distributed. “It is impossible to increase this amount but we can decide how to split it more effectively,” said the minister. He stressed that there is discontent among the rest of the public groups because of the farmer’s strike and the financial help offered to them. On the other hand, the farmers want to receive guarantees that the financial help will reach the farmers and they want to know who will receive how much.

The expectations from today’s meeting are optimistic but the tractors will remain on the roads until its end. The Athens-Thessaloniki highway remains blocked on several points as well as the old Athens-Thessaloniki highway. The traffic is redirected towards smaller roads and driving is harder. The border station Kulata-Promahon is still closed and farmers allow only trucks, transferring fresh products, to pass. The border stations Ilinden-Exohi and Kipi-Ipsala are also closed. Farmers from Kilkis have blocked also the border stations with Macedonia near Evzoni and Doyran but in order for the traffic not build up, they open them from time to time.

The second largest highway in Greece – Egnathia is still closed and the tractors are every few meters throughout the whole highway. The farmers from Peloponnese are joining the strike from today and will close the Athens-Parta highway around the region of Korinthos. By doing this, they will cut off the peninsula from the rest of Greece. The farmers from Crete Island are still remaining on the roads and the Hania-Retimno highway is still closed.