Larissa: Strong protests by affected farmers and breeders in ELGA and OPEKEPE – They demand 100% compensation and support measures (photo

Farmers and breeders from Larissa and the other prefectures of Thessaly who have been irreparably affected by the disasters caused by the fires and floods in our area a few months ago declare themselves desperate and desperate.

In the protest demonstration in ELGA and then in OPEKEPE this Tuesday morning, all the Federations of Thessaly and the Competition Committees took part, demanding “timely and fair assessments and a timetable for the payment of compensations. Change of the ELGA regulation to compensate 100% of the real value for the huge losses in production, in plant and animal capital, in equipment and the diseases that occurred and drastically reduced production”, as the relevant announcement states and adds that: ” We are protesting to OPEKEPE about the cutting of the basic support and subsidies of the new CAP, but also the many injustices that have been done to producers who did not receive a single euro without their own responsibility. To be informed of what happened, demanding immediate payment to all beneficiaries in the basic aid. That everyone be given the linked aids and that Thessaly be exempted from the implementation of the CAP for one year so that everyone gets the money from the various programs in full.

We are fighting for survival and the solution will come from our unrelenting struggle, organization and unity. The various meetings that are held, the promises that we have been hearing for two months after the floods have remained in words without a clear timetable for the payment of compensations and the works that are needed”.

MEETING WITH THE CHIEF OF ELGA

A delegation of farmers and breeders met with the head of ELGA, Mr. Spyropoulos, and they raised all the demands. Mr. Maroudas informed the farmers about what was said. “Mr. Spyropoulos told us that there is no further information and the most worrying thing is that from what he told us there will be no individualization of the damages, but there will be by region, by zone and everyone will be paid at 50 or 60%, without the amount of the price has been determined. There will thus be great injustices”, noted Rizos Maroudas. Finally, he added: “For the flooded fields or the fields that will not be cultivated this year, he told us that ELGA covers the production for 2023, all of these will go to the state aid.”

“WE CLAIM COMPENSATION, WE PREPARE MOBILITIES”

THE Thodoris Georgadakis, president of the Federation of Agricultural Associations of Magnesia, said: “We are here today and we are struggling panthessally and on the part of Magnesia that has been affected by the fire in the summer, by two floods in a row and we have lost animal and plant capital, while there is no commitment and no real measure of support. We demand that all farmers be compensated for 100% of the damage, that immediate measures be taken. We are entering into dynamic mobilizations, it is not the time to sit with crossed arms, to get up from the couches because in a little while they will take away the couch as well…”.

The President of EOASK Kostas Tzelas, noted that “Two months have passed since Daniel’s disasters and unfortunately we still have not received an answer from ELGA regarding the amount of compensation that farmers and breeders will receive, not even the advance payment. We must be compensated at 100% and the regulation of the ELGA, which is an extreme case, should be changed. We want an ELGA with a public character helping farmers and breeders. Everyday life in the affected villages is very bad.”

The president of EOASNL, Rizos Maroudas he emphasized: “We are holding the protest show today, due to the serious problems we have been facing for two months and beyond the announcements and promises there is no measure of support until now. We are mainly interested in compensating the damage to 100%, animal and plant capital, machinery and equipment. The regulation of ELGA must be changed. The deposit does not cover anything. We claim our right and the support from the government, they are requests for survival, they should do this if they want to continue to have agricultural production and life in the countryside. We know the way we will claim to have our requests satisfied. There are fields in all prefectures that will not be cultivated this year unless action is taken, the water in the fields near Karla will be gone in two years.”

The president of the Sotiriou Agricultural Cooperative, Angelos Giambalis, He noted that: “To strongly emphasize the issue of the remote villages, there are 2,000 acres that are under water and we do not know when the water will go away, the government has not given us a plan for when we will be able to cultivate again. The world is up in the air. Only 5 families now live in Sotirios”.

“We lost a lot of livestock and a lot of production. There is a big problem with the breeders, not even the farmer friends who have their own problems can support the breeders at the moment”, states a breeder, as well as the Athanasios Masouras, also a livestock farmer from Magnesia noted: “The government is handing out crumbs. We have burned and flooded, there are people who have nowhere to stay, not only have they lost their fields and their animals. Thessaly is the garden of Greece, it is the primary sector, if the government does not emphasize, no new farmers will come, but we will also leave. We have invested thousands of euros and we are ruined.”

Watch video with the statements of the outraged farmers and breeders: