Greek border open
Bulgarian and Greek officials met on January 16 2010 to assess the situation as negotiations proceeded about planned border blockade protests by Greek farmers.
All Bulgarian – Greek border checkpoints, including the newly opened Zlatograd-Xanthi checkpoint, were operating normally on January 16, media reports said, after the previous day the Ilinden – Eksohi checkpoint was blockaded for 90 minutes.
People should avoid travelling to Greece, Bulgarian news agency Focus quoted deputy regional governor of Blagoevgrad Georgi Bahanov as saying after the meeting at Kulata border checkpoint with his counterpart deputy regional governor of Serres, Tomas Syambris, and a representative of the police Nikolas Rizos.
The Greek side offered an alternative route for drivers through Zlatarevo border checkpoint, Valandovo and Gevgeli.
Farmers have said that they would continue the protest for a further five days from January 18, but this depends on the outcome of negotiations. The farmers want to be paid 2009 subsidies that are in arrears, and have indicated that the strike could become indefinite until this happens.
Bulgaria said that bodies including the border police, Bulgarian Red Cross, emergency services and local authorities had been briefed on steps to take in the event of a sustained blockade and were co-ordinating their actions.
Bulgarian National Television (BNT) said that the January 16 meeting between the deputy governors of Blagoevgrad and Serres was held to discuss how to deal with traffic flow in the event of a further blockade.
Bulgaria was requesting clear rules on how traffic flow would work, not only for light vehicles but also for TIR lorries, BNT said.
Greek daily Kathimerini said that wider protests could follow in the days ahead as farmers stepped up their demands.
On January 15, about 120 tractors were used to close the national road near the Strymonas bridge in northern Greece. Motorists had to use a diversion which took them onto the old Thessaloniki-Kavala highway via Asprovalta. The same day, farmers from Kastoria also set up intermittent blocks on the road leading to the Albanian border.
Kathimerini said that more farmers from Serres were expected to descend on the Promachonas crossing on the border with Bulgaria from January 18.
On January 16, before the meeting between the Blagoevgrad and Serres officials started, Focus quoted Todor Georgiev, head of the regional customs office in Smolyan, as saying that Bulgarian motorists should check the situation before travelling to Greece.
This could be done at the Interior Ministry website, and people should check news websites as well, Georgiev said.
Bulgarian citizens travelling to Turkey were advised to use the Lesovo and Malko Tarnovo border checkpoints.
The alternatives to the Kapitan Andreevo – Kalotina border checkpoints are the crossings along the Bulgarian-Serbian border: Vrashka Chuka, Bregovo, Stezimirovtsi and Oltomantsi or to Romania via the Danube Bridge and to Macedonia via Gyueshevo crossing, Focus said.
