An immigration pact that will bring thousands of land workers from India to Greece, in a legal and coordinated way, to cover the huge gaps in hands that our country’s primary sector has, “locked” in the Prime Minister’s trip to India.
The pact, which is under negotiation, is expected to come to Parliament in March for ratification in April and will not provide for a specific number of Indian workers, but a “cutter”.
It is known that in recent years the primary sector of Western Greece has faced a major shortage of land workers, while the employment status of foreign workers in most cases remains basically “black”.
Previous attempts to legally repatriate land workers from third countries have failed. In Achaia by the end of 2023, approximately 600 requests had been submitted, mainly for land workers, while in Aitoloakarnania, the requests also concerned 621 seasonal employment positions in the agricultural economy, 125 dependent work positions and 9 positions for fishermen.
The percentage of implementation of the above requests is around 50%, while the procedures are time-consuming and extremely bureaucratic, as a result of which farmers are discouraged.
The general director of Internal Operations of the Decentralized Administration of Peloponnese, Western Greece & Ionia, Nikolaos Papatheodorou, told “P” that there is a huge need for labor force from third countries in the region.
“No new directive has come to us yet, but in any case whatever is done with the land workers from India is in the positive direction, because there are many gaps in our region. I am not only referring to the agricultural sector that has needs in Achaia and Ilia, but also to sectors such as catering, but also constructions which are constantly rising.
The needs for staff and workers are very great and anything that helps them come to our country is very important. Another issue that will help land workers to come to Greece is the issue of data checks which, due to the lack of staff, is holding us back and we have to look at this, either with contract workers or with permanent staff” said Mr. Papatheodorou .
The president of the Olenia Agricultural Association, Alekos Thanopoulos, underlined the great need to fill the gaps in the region, however, he is not optimistic that a solution will be found.
“I hope a solution is found for the land workers from India, but I am not optimistic. The government had said the same in the past, but nothing was done. We have submitted applications to recruit, we have paid an allowance, but nothing has happened. In addition, many land workers, coming here found the possibility to leave to other countries, where they have been insured and worked legally.
There are many gaps in Western Achaia and the problem is getting worse as time goes by. Let’s first see the changes planned by the government and then we will be able to say more,” said Mr. Thanopoulos.
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