Bulgaria, where local industries have suffered huge financial losses because of more than two weeks of blockades by protesting farmers at the Greek border, will decide on February 3 2010 whether to sue Greece in the European Court of Justice.
 
Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naidenov, speaking in Parliament on January 29 2010, said that a decision on court action would be on the agenda of the next scheduled Cabinet meeting.
 
In Athens, Greek daily Kathimerini said on January 29 that Greece’s agriculture minister Katerina Batzeli was to sit down and try and reach a compromise with protesting farmers who have been blocking the country’s roads and border crossings for the past two weeks, causing serious trade and transport problems and straining cross-border relations.
 
Protesting farmers, in their 15th day of roadblocks, on January 29 again blocked the Promachonas border post which, however, had remained open during the previous night.
 
Egnatia motorway was also closed at the Kedryllia intersection while the Serres-Thessaloniki old highway is open, Greek news agency ANA-MPA said.
 
Bulgarian news agency Focus said on January 29 that the Promachonas border checkpoint would be closed for heavy-freight vehicles till 7pm, according to Bulgaria’s Border Police.
 
The General Directorate Border Police received information that Greek farmers will block Promachonas border checkpoint at 12pm for all trucks, but buses and cars would freely pass through the border.
 
The other three Bulgarian – Greek border checkpoints were operating normally, Focus said.