subsidies

Hundreds of farmers block parts of the Athens-Thessaloniki highway in protest over the delayed payments.

Greek farmers have clashed with police during protests in central and northern regions over the delayed payment of European Union subsidies.

Police used tear gas on Sunday as the farmers brought hundreds of tractors to block the Athens-Thessaloniki national highway near the central city of Larissa.

Officers made three arrests, police said, but the farmers managed to close the highway ahead of additional protests planned for next week.

“We will stay here until [the government] gives solutions,” local farm trade unionist Costas Tzelas told reporters.

The delay in payments comes amid investigations into a scandal in which some farmers allegedly faked land and livestock ownership to receive EU agricultural subsidies.

Greek officials say the fraudsters made more than 30 million euros ($35m) worth of false claims for Common Agricultural Policy subsidies.

Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Food Christos Kellas told the ERT public broadcaster on Sunday that farmers had received reduced EU subsidies as the investigation into fraudulent claims was still under way.

“They received 100 million euros [$116m] less at this stage,” he added. “After appeals, those who are entitled to funds will receive them.”

Greek authorities have launched separate investigations, and the parliament is probing the government agency OPEKEPE, which distributes roughly 2.5 billion euros ($2.9bn) in EU aid annually to hundreds of thousands of farmers.

The scandal has already led to the resignation of a minister in the conservative government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Livestock farmers were also demanding compensation following the loss of more than 400,000 sheep and goats to a sheep pox outbreak, all slaughtered to stop the disease.

The authorities have resisted calls from farmers to be allowed to vaccinate their flocks, arguing there is no proof the measure actually works.

Nov. 11 (UPI) — Senate Republicans have signaled that they are willing to negotiate with Democrats on healthcare subsidies, but are demanding tighter abortion rules on insurance plans.

Senate Republican Leader John Thune described his party’s negotiating position to reporters before the chamber passed a bill on Monday to reopen the government, according to NBC News. Thune’s remarks set the stage for the next partisan fight over expiring health care subsidies that were at the center of the longest government shutdown on record.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., sharply criticized the Republican proposal in a floor speech Saturday, calling it “a backdoor national abortion ban.”

“Democrats must dismiss this radical Trojan horse against women’s essential healthcare out of hand,” he said.

Senate Democrats earlier demanded that an extension of pandemic-era enhanced subsidies be included in any government-funding bill. That demand was left out of a funding bill that passed the Senate on Monday and is expected to pass the House.

With no extension of the subsidies in place, individuals who purchase health insurance through Affordable Care Act marketplaces will see steep premium rises — some by thousands of dollars a month — beginning next year.

Republicans have expressed a willingness to negotiate on the enhanced subsidies, but Thune said that in exchange for an extension of the subsidies, Republicans will ask for more stringent enforcement of longstanding restrictions on federal funding being used for abortion, known as the Hyde Amendment.

“A one-year extension along the lines of what [Democrats] are suggesting, and without Hyde protections — doesn’t even get close,” Thune said, according to NBC News.

Wyden said in his floor speech that the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, already bars the use of taxpayer money for abortions.

However, Republicans want to block states from allowing people to access abortions through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces using state or other funding, NBC News reported.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., has indicated he’s open to extending the subsidies, but said Republicans won’t support it without the abortion restrictions.