Farmers insist on bringing tractors to Athens

As farmers plan to descend on Athens on Tuesday, Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis has reportedly expressed his opposition that they do it with tractors, but is not against the use of cars and buses. 

He met with representatives of farmers from Macedonia, Thessaly and Central Greece at the Ministry of Macedonia-Thrace on Friday, a day after their decision to escalate their mobilizations over demands including duty-free agricultural diesel, reduced electricity costs, subsidies on supplies and animal feed, and renegotiation of the EU's new Common Agricultural Policy, among others.

According to reports, the farmers appeared to be adamant about coming down to the capital on tractors, with the minister making it clear that the government is opposed to that.

"We mentioned that tractors are the tool of our work and we noted that all over Europe, the...