Defying a government warning, Greek farmers block border crossings in wake of EU subsidy scandal

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THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Defying a government warning, farmers in northern Greece blocked traffic at border crossings Wednesday in an escalating protest over delayed European Union -backed subsidy payments. The delays follow revelations of widespread fraudulent claims for EU funds.

Convoys of tractors blocked routes to North Macedonia, Bulgaria and Turkey forcing drivers into lengthy detours.

Farmers also took to the streets over the weekend, blocking roads in several areas.

Protests by farmers are common in Greece, but the latest unrest erupted over delays in subsidy payments in the wake revelations of fraudulent claims for EU funds.

The scandal prompted the resignation in June of five senior government officials and the phased shutdown of a state agency that handled agricultural subsidies.

Michalis Chrisochoidis, a minister for public order, said this week the government remained open to talks with protest leaders but warned that it would not tolerate the shutdown of major transit points, including ports and railway hubs.

Dozens of people have been arrested across Greece in recent weeks for allegedly filing false claims, in response to an investigation led by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. The independent EU body that deals with financial crime said at the end of October that the investigation was linked to “a systematic large-scale subsidy fraud scheme and money-laundering activities.”

Greece's farming sector has been hit this year by the subsidy delays and an outbreak of goat and sheep pox that led to a mass cull of livestock.

Protest organizers vowed Wednesday to expand protests, urging the government to speed up an overhaul of agriculture subsidy assessments.

“The poorer we get, the more determined we become. There is no turning back. We have to solve these problems or there’s no future for us," Kostas Tzelas, a member of the national blockade committee, based in central Greece, told the AP.

“The money was stolen by opportunists,” he said. “The state should take the money back and give it to the farmers.”