Greek farmers have been protesting for several days, demanding subsidies and compensation for growing fuel and electricity prices as well as for the damage caused by natural disasters. Mitsotakis attended the opening ceremony of a new section of the Aktion-Amvrakia road in western Greece earlier in the day, after which he spoke to the demonstrators gathered on the road near Vonitsa.
"Supporting the primary sector of the economy is the first political priority for us and for me personally. I know your problems and I know them first hand. But you also know that in these four difficult years, the government stood as close as possible to the farmers, both by reducing taxes and increasing the financial support that we provided to ELGA [Greece's state-owned agricultural insurance organization]," the press service quoted Mitsotakis as saying.
During that time, the government provided over 1 billion euros ($1.08 billion) in compensation, of which only 500 million euros came from farmer contributions, and lowered VAT on animal feed and fertilizers, the prime minister added.
Furthermore, Athens will consider what it can do at the national as well as the European level to decrease production and energy costs for farmers, he also said.
"We have already achieved success and provided relatively reasonable prices during the crisis, but we want to reduce them even further. We are aware of the backlog and problems associated with the cost of transportation and diesel fuel," Mitsotakis was quoted as saying by his press office.
The prime minister thanked the protesters for the discussion and vowed to take all steps to support the farmers, despite financial constraints, the press office said.