With the strike entering its third week, and patience wearing thin on both sides of the border, there seems to be no sign of a resolution to the Greek farmers' blockade that has severely undermining the economies of both Bulgaria and Greece.

According to the Greek daily Kahtimerini, the farmers have issued nine demands, which they submitted to Greek agriculture minister Katerina Batzeli late on January 31 2010.

The demands include "the immediate disbursement of compensation for lost income and the announcement of minimum prices for crops; the protection of domestic agricultural produce from the competition posed by foreign imports; the reduction of rising production costs through the abolition of value-added tax on agricultural supplies and machinery and the scrapping of tax on fuel; the imposition of a three-year freeze on the repayment of farmers’ loans; and the reduction of the minimum retirement age to 60 for men and 55 for women," Kathimerini reported.

As of February 1 2010, the Kulata–Promahon border checkpoint is closed to lorries and there is currently a queue of more than 120 vehicles stranded at the border, Dnevnik daily reported.

Reportedly, the remaining three checkpoints, at Ilinden, Zlatograd and Captain P Voivoda, are currently operating normally and all vehicles are able to pass through. There is no guarantee, however, that this will continue to be the case.

Greek farmers have blocked key roads around Thessaloníki, while the motorway leading south to Athens, or Ethniki Odos, is also blocked by tractors in two places.

The Greek government has not yet responded to the farmers' demands, according to media reports. The only reaction was that of Batzeli who said that the "government would look into ways of boosting the incomes of farmers, who claim their sector is on the verge of bankruptcy".

Dnevnik daily reported on February 1 2010 that the Greek agriculture minister had considered injecting one billion euro from the 28-billion-euro rescue package, designed to salvage the Greek banking sector, into the farming sector.

On January 29, Bulgarian media said that local industries have suffered huge financial losses because of the ongoing blockades and 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 turn, Bulgarian carriers have threatened to block all Greek vehicles wishing to enter the country.