(ANA/Reuters)

AS farmers carried their roadblock protests into a third week, the European Commission said on February 2 that it was prepared to take legal action to end road blockades put up by Greek farmers at the Greek-Bulgarian border that have hurt businesses in both countries.     

 

Thousands of farmers have blocked highways and border crossings with Bulgaria for more than two weeks, demanding more subsidies and higher prices for produce and putting pressure on the government as it struggles with a spiralling deficit.     

 

“The commission stands ready to use all the necessary legal avenues to ensure that the free movement of goods is guaranteed,” Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a statement.     

He said he hoped drawn-out legal procedures could be avoided and the issue resolved on a consensual basis. Barroso’s comments came after a meeting with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov. 

 

A midweek meeting between farmers and Agriculture Minister Katerina Batzeli - the third since the disruptions began - failed to produce a compromise. 

 

The government has promised farmers a package of measures  regarding their incomes. Speaking at a conference in the northeast city of Komotini, Batzeli announced what she called the immediate settlement of overdue debts through the extension of a payoff period and the adoption of a grace period of two years, as well as a credit limit increase to cover 100 percent of cultivation expenses. 

 

Also, she said, one billion euros out of the 28 billion euros allocated to buttress liquidity in the domestic banking system will be channelled to the agricultural sector to cover longterm and medium-term farmer loans for the period 2009-10, while a two-year “freeze” will be in effect for all farm loans, with no outstanding payments.