Farmers across Greece have stepped up their protests, blocking key highways, border crossings and announcing an indefinite shutdown of Heraklion airport in Crete from Monday.
The latest wave of Greek farmers’ protests is causing serious disruption on the national highways network and at customs posts, as tractor convoys spread from Western Macedonia in the north to Thessaly, Central Greece, the Peloponnese and the islands to the south.
Nearly whole of Greece under farmers’ blockades
At the Siatista tolls on the Egnatia Odos in Kozani in northern Greece, convoys of tractors from Kozani, Ptolemaida, Kastoria and other parts of Western Macedonia have closed the highway to all vehicles, forcing traffic onto older parallel mountainous routes.
Earlier on Saturday, farmers also set up blockades at the Angelokastro tolls in Aetoloakarnania and at Aktio in western Greece, negotiating passage with police as they pushed onto the national road network.
In Thessaly, more than 4,000 tractors have gathered at the Nikaia junction, on the E65 European route near Karditsa and at the Longos tolls in Trikala, forming what farmers describe as the country’s largest roadblock.
They are preparing tougher action from Monday, including customs blockades and a major mobilisation aimed at shutting down the port of Volos in Thessaly, with final decisions due at a general assembly on Sunday.
On the Athens–Lamia highway, tractors formed mile-long queues as farmers occupied the Mikrothives section in both directions after breaking through a police cordon that was there to stop them from blocking the traffic.
The Bralos junction outside Lamia (north of Athens) is also under a farmers’ blockade, with more than 100 tractors from Lamia, western and eastern Fthiotis, Amfikleia–Elateia and Kamena Vourla converging on the route, where protesters burned straw and spilled milk in a symbolic act of protest.
In Crete, the coordinating committee of farmers and livestock breeders has decided to block Heraklion airport from Monday and “for as long as it takes”. Producers from Lasithi will join the action, assembling in Pachia Ammos at 09:00 on Monday before moving in convoy towards Heraklion.
Despite bad weather, farmers in Achaia are maintaining three separate blockades, including one near Kato Achaia and a new one in Itea with more than 100 tractors. Protesters there have repeatedly closed both the new Patras–Pyrgos highway and the old national road, while farmers from Aigialeia have taken to the streets at the Selinoundas bridge.
Blockades at customs and border crossings
Customs posts are also under pressure, with blockades reported at Kipoi, Exochi, Promachonas, Evzoni, Niki and the Kalpakio junction leading to the Kakavia customs stations in Greece’s northern borders with neighbouring Albania, North Macedonia, Bulgaria and Turkey.
Despite the abolition of border controls with Bulgaria since the Balkan nation entered the Schengen area at the beginning of 2025, disruption continues due to the farmers’ protests. At Promachonas, farmers have alternated between opening and closing the crossing for lorries, maintaining a rolling blockade that has already lasted five days. As a goodwill gesture, they have allowed the gradual exit of more than 170 trucks from Greece, but say many more remain stuck on the Greek side of the border.
Passenger cars and buses can generally pass through single lanes, and lorries carrying perishable goods are being allowed through, but hundreds of other trucks remain immobilised near the Kipoi border and along the vertical axis of the Egnatia Odos highway in northern Greece.
What are Greece’s farmers’ demands
The protests are driven by a set of economic demands that farmers’ unions say are vital for the survival of small and medium-sized holdings.
They are calling for immediate payment of delayed EU and national subsidies and compensation, lower production costs through reductions in fuel, energy and input prices, and targeted tax and social security relief for the sector.
Organisers also seek faster and fairer assessments for aid, reforms to the ELGA national insurance system to speed up payouts and better support for livestock farmers hit by goat and sheep pox outbreaks and extreme weather.
Premier Mitsotakis ‘open to dialogue’
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said during a visit to Markopoulo in Attica that the Greek government is open to talks, calling on farmers to come to the table in an organised way, with clear representatives and concrete demands.
He added that the authorities would do the best they could, while stressing that protests should also take into account the wider public interest.
Pavlos Marinakis, the Greek government’s spokesperson said that their administration have already put forward a plan for cheaper electricity for farmers over the next ten years and, if a viable way is found, further reductions in power prices are also possible.
He underlined that the government is willing to sit down and discuss solutions specifically with those who are facing the most severe problems.