Bulgaria PM Urges Brussels to Intervene in Greek Blockade

Greek farmers line-up their tractors to block the highway near Larissa, central Greece. Thousands of farmers use their tractors to block the highway net throughout Greece, demanding better prices for their products. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Bulgaria's prime minister has renewed his calls on the European Commission to urgently intervene and bring to an end the blockade of Greek protesting farmers at the border between the two EU countries.

“I will confer on Tuesday with the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, because the farmers are breaking European laws and hurt the Bulgarian state,” Boyko Borisov told reporters.

Commenting the threats by a Bulgarian business association to stage a counter-blockade on the Bulgarian-Greek border, Borisov stressed he supports only acts that will boost the good ties and understanding between the two neighbors.

Talking to journalists in Brussels last week, European Commission spokesman Ton Van Lierop said the European Commission has already asked the Greek authorities for information and has demanded that they secure the free circulation of goods across the border.

“Compensation is a matter between two member states,” Ton Van Lierop said when asked whether Bulgarian can legally claim losses.

He pointed out that the European Commission has started to closely follow the issue right after they received a letter by Bulgaria's prime minister Boyko Borisov, in which he appealed to the European Union to take "immediate“ action to end the blockades.

Talks to resolve the three-week tractor blockade of highways and border crossings in Greece by farmers collapsed on Sunday, increasing the pressure on a government grappling with the country's worst financial crisis in decades.

The farmers refused to back down in the row, which is seen as a crucial test of Athens' determination to impose austerity measures that will salvage Europe's most indebted economy.

The blockade, which is believed to cost EUR 25 M a day, has disrupted transport, damaged commerce and strained relations with neighboring Bulgaria, where exports have also been hard hit.

Bulgaria is demanding compensation of EUR 10 M from its neighbor for the loss of business as a result of the farmers' actions along its southern border.

A year ago thousands of Greek farmers blockaded main roads across the country, intimidating Costas Karamanlis’s conservative government into coughing up a EUR 500 M package of support and incurring huge losses to Bulgarian companies.

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