Greek farmers opened a key border post with neighbouring Bulgaria today after a week-long blockade in protest at government austerity measures, according to dpa. Ignoring requests from Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou for dialogue, the farmers agreed to lift their blockade after Bulgarian Premier Bojko Borissov said he would inform the European Union of their grievances. Borissov accepted a letter from the farmers' union outlining their concerns and promised them he would brief the European Union so that their demands for higher subsidies would be met. Earlier this week, the Bulgarian government appealed to the European Union to take "immediate" action to end the blockade. "If I were to take you on a helicopter you would see for yourself the damage that your blockade has caused," he told farmers. Earlier in the day, Papandreou told parliament, "there is no money for farm subsidies." Hundreds of trucks had been stranded at the two key border posts at Promahonas-Kulata and Exohi-Ilinden as the blockade headed into its seventh straight day Friday. Farmers continued to erect new road blocks throughout Greece. More than 20 key road, including main highway connecting the capital, Athens, with the northern port city of Thessaloniki were also blocked. The farmers drove tractors and heavy machinery to the borders with Albania, Turkey and Macedonia to block border traffic there too. Greece's socialist government, which is struggling to cope with an unprecedented economic crisis and pressure from the European Union to curb the highest budget deficit in the 27-nation bloc, promised to provide state aid by mid-March and urged farmers to dismantle the roadblocks. However, the government rejected the farmers' demands of new subsidies worth about 1 billion euros (1.4 billion dollars). Agriculture Minister Katerina Batzeli said in a televised discussion that the country's precarious fiscal situation made subsidies impossible. Greek farmers estimated their income has declined by 25 per cent in the past 10 years. The farming sector is composed mainly of small- scale farmers who rely on handouts from the government to survive. Last year, a month-long protest in which farmers blocked roads also triggered major problems for commercial truck drivers and travellers.
