Farmers throughout the country took to the roads with their tractors on Wednesday and made preparations to escalate protest action in the coming days. Among others, farmers are demanding that the government roll back new measures increasing their taxes and social insurance contributions. 

Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras met earlier on Thursday with a delegation of farmers but the two parties did not come to an agreement. The meeting ended in a deadlock.

Greek farmers are objecting to the new tax law, which rules that starting in 2014, they are to get taxed according to their actual income, not objective criteria set after negotiations.