January 23, 2009

Greece on Thursday (January 22) failed to strike a deal with protesting farmers who have been blocking the country's s busiest highways for the past three days.

Greek farmers are angry at the low prices of cotton, corn and wheat, which are set by the European Union.

Following what their unions described as "fruitless" talks with Agriculture Minister Sotiris Hatzigakis, farmers blocked the country's main highway, which links the capital Athens to the northern city of Thessaloniki.

Almost 3,000 tractors set up roadblocks in the northern town of Tembi, leaving motorists to find alternatives routes to travel between the north and south of the country.

In the north, protesters continued their blockade of the border with Bulgaria and obstructed the Egnatia highway, which links Greece and Turkey, causing lengthy queues.

Farmers also set up roadblocks in Macedonia and on the island of Crete.

"We are going to support our farmers but within the frameworks of the European Union...we can neither act against other social classes nor change the 2009 budget," said Hatzigakis in a parliamentary debate on the row Wednesday.

But one of the movement's leaders, Vangelis Boutas, told Greek radio that the action would continue while prices remained so low.

"In 2007 we sold cotton at 42 cents per kilo, and in 2008 the price dropped to 17 cents," Boutas, the head of the Karditsa Farmers' Federation, said.

"We will not be moving until measures to safeguard our future have been taken," he added.