Greek farmers sound the alarm over land worker derth

Instead of the problem of the lack of land workers finding a solution ahead of spring harvests, it appears to be widening, with farmers from Messinia and Crete warning of new problems and impacts on the primary sector.

In particular, rural associations of Crete and Messinia (Filiatra, Gargaliani, Selinos of Chania, Tympakio of Heraklion, Sitias Lasithi and Ierapetra Lasithi) in a joint letter to the relevant ministries, report the consequences of the delay in issuing the joint ministerial decision to determine the upper limit of jobs per Region and Prefecture, for the employment of third country citizens (TCCs) in the primary sector and other sectors.

Specifically, as they state, “the new programming period 2023-2024 has already started, while the procedures for re-calling TCCs are being carried out with an extension of the previous 2021-2022 decision. It should be emphasized that this extension has no application in Regions where there are no longer available jobs”, while they have already informed in writing about the problems of the legislation that inflate the bureaucratic procedures, immediately requesting their modification with targeted interventions.

Additional time-consuming actions

“Surprisingly, to date we have no information about your intention to modify all the problem points in the process,” the farmers point out.

On the contrary – as they underline – additional time-consuming actions have been added where the same details of the employee and employer are repeatedly entered through an electronic platform at each stage, such as in the issuance of a residence permit, the issuance of an swocial security-AMKA and VAT number and the issuance of a work permit, etc.: “Procedures, meaning that the government’s aim is to transfer the bureaucracy to citizens and ultimately to greatly increase the time to complete cases as well as the cost. In all the above procedures, an additional fee is imposed (in addition to the initial one for the hiring), while at the same time, many of the employers have already lost their money from the continuous rejection of cases by the Greek embassies, without substantial justification”.

“Mr. Ministers, reflecting on the already adverse effects caused by the huge lack of labor force in the current period and also the fact that our country is in a pre-election period, it will be a fatal mistake if the dissolution of the Parliament takes place without the publication of the new joint ministerial decision in the Official Gazette “, the joint letter emphasizes, warning once again that the food crisis is not an arbitrary term but exists and already affects the daily life of citizens, simultaneously dragging the prices of agricultural products upwards, due to the quantitative and qualitative degradation of the products .

“For all of the above, the responsibility rests solely on your own choices, which so far have not brought about any substantial solution to this issue. We invite you for the last time to see to it that the issuance of the relevant decision is completed immediately. It is the minimum that you must do in this difficult time”, concludes the joint letter of the farmers of Crete and Messinia.