Greece will extend tax rebate on agricultural diesel by a year, to support farmers who demand lower energy costs and compensation for crops lost in floods, PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis said
He said the measure would cost the state $89.31 million in 2024 and announced more steps to appease the protesters
On major highways around the French capital, protesters took down tents, cleaned up the road and set fire to straw bales that they were using as barricades. Convoys of tractors were leaving the sites in a peaceful and orderly manner amid a large police deployment meant to ensure the security of operations.
Arnaud Rousseau, the president of the biggest farmers union, FNSEA, speaking on news broadcaster BFM, said “we now want to work” on the government’s proposals and take “concrete” steps within the next few weeks.
Rousseau said farmers would keep a close eye on whether the government implements its promises by June and warned that they are ready to protest again as the country gets ready for the Paris Olympics this summer.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, whose earlier promises to address farmers’ issues had failed to quell the French protests, announced a new set of measures.
French President Emmanuel Macron, at a Brussels news conference, said that the French government’s latest pledges to farmers meant that he had heard their concerns. He said he won major concessions from the EU, describing it as a “deep revision of the logic” of European farming policy.
