And while in this period, thousands of Albanians flocked to Greece for seasonal work, now the situation has changed a lot. The departure of young Albanians to Germany or other countries in Europe and beyond, has become a very serious problem for our country, but on the other hand, it is also worrying the Greeks.
The Greek media "Kathimerini" has devoted an article to the departure of workers from the Balkan countries towards Germany, turning into a very serious problem for agriculture in Greece.
"A frost would save us," says ironically Christos Giannakakis, vice president of the National Union of Agricultural Cooperatives in Greece, implying that in case of damage caused by weather conditions, they will be compensated by the state, since in otherwise they will not be able to harvest the production.
Greeks have already started looking for workers in countries such as Egypt, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Kazakhstan or even Peru and Ecuador. They are looking everywhere, except the Albanians, who have kept agriculture alive for almost 3 decades.
"Greeks do not work in agriculture. People are leaving their country for Germany, France and Italy, where they get much higher wages. Why should they come to us? Bulgaria has no workers, so do Romania, Albania and North Macedonia. They have fled to Europe and we must forget them. If we are lucky, then they will bring workers from Kazakhstan and then from other countries in Southeast Asia", says Christos Giannakakis, vice president of the National Union of Agricultural Cooperatives in Greece.
Now, the transition from workers from the Balkan countries to those from Asia is not expected to be easy and painless for agriculture in Greece. Giannakakis points out that finding workers from Asian countries is made difficult by the complex bureaucratic procedures of the Greek system.