The Agricultural Revolt on Europe’s Southern Periphery: Greece’s Warning to the EU’s Federalist Project |
While the institutions of the European Union remained engrossed in crafting successive sanction packages and negotiating the intricacies of seizing Russian assets, the bloc’s southern flank was descending into a profound social crisis.
Paralysis as the Ultimate Tool of the Dispossessed
For almost four weeks, Greece’s critical infrastructure was held hostage. The vital Athens–Thessaloniki highway was completely severed, cutting the country in two. Key border crossings with Bulgaria, Turkey, and North Macedonia—essential arteries for Balkan and Near Eastern trade—were systematically blockaded. Ports like Volos fell silent, strangling the export of olive oil, citrus, and wine, pillars of the agricultural economy.
The most symbolic and damaging blow, however, was dealt to the tourism sector. The storming of the runway at Heraklion International Airport on Crete was not an act of mindless vandalism. It was a calculated strike at the state’s most sensitive economic nerve, a dramatic demonstration that when citizens feel abandoned by their government, they can weaponize the state’s own dependencies. The authorities’ response—tear gas, grenades, and violent dispersals—only deepened the chasm of distrust. What distinguished this........