Food is funny. When plentiful, it can be a rallying cry for cross-cultural comity, but when lacking it will bring down kings and queens (see Antoinette, Marie). In Europe these days the daily bread represents a bit of both. That explains why President Macron would never dream of skipping his country’s annual agricultural fair — and he’s not attending to cozy up to the cows. 

Prosaic as it may sound, agriculture is central to both the European identity and economy. Across the Continent, farmers are up in arms over bureaucratic overregulation that hurts their competitiveness and drives up prices, leaving consumers grappling with soaring food inflation. No government seems willing or able to tackle it, but the fast-approaching European parliamentary elections in June may spur some into action. 

The foregoing in a nutshell explains the pop-up presence of the head of the Greek socialist party, Nikos Androulakis, at the largest food show in southeastern Europe over the weekend. He spoke of an inflationary spiral that appears to be getting worse with time.

Above the din of 1,300 exhibitors from all corners of Greece and beyond, the soft-spoken Mr. Androulakis told reporters — this correspondent included — that “inflation has increased by 20 percent for  food.” He wasn’t fooling. 

The price of olive oil, an indispensable ingredient in Greek cooking that also accounts for nearly 10 percent of Greece’s total agricultural output, has soared by 67 percent in just one year. That means a two-pint container of store-bought olive oil that a year ago cost about $5 could now cost more than $10 — for the identical product. 

Naturally, among the thousands of products on display at the Greece Food Expos, from fruit-flavored Cretan iced teas to potato chips with Aegean sea salt, and from feta cheese aplenty to frozen octopi, olive oil figured prominently. Much of it is produced on Crete, a rugged island known for its agricultural bounty, for resisting invaders, and for turning out national politicians — including Mr. Androulakis and the current Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. 

Mr. Androulakis criticized Mr. Mitsotakis and his center-right New Democracy party for what he perceives as inaction on the economic front. “The consumer price index for food has increased by 31.2 percent since the inflationary crisis began,” he said, adding,  “All this has to do with the ineptitude of the New Democracy.” 

That was a jab at the government’s recent efforts to launch a campaign of price checks on staples such as baby formula and impose price caps in some cases, but so far results have been mixed and grocery bills are running higher than in many other European countries.

He said that “the few fines and the few checks on the market are the result of an ideology which considers that the market is self-regulating during periods of major crises, with the end result that the middle class and the poorest Greeks pay dearly.”

Pasok — as  the socialist party is known by its acronym in Greek — recently overtook the main opposition party, left-wing Syriza, in public opinion polls. So the Greek press is more attuned than ever to anything Mr. Androulakis says.

He also said that Mr. Mitsotakis had characterized the inflationary crisis as “imported” but that it had “become domestic with the signature of his inaction.”

Price spikes on everything from basic consumer goods to electric bills are by no means unique to Greece. The war in Ukraine and sanctions have affected prices across the board and all over Europe, from gas in the tank to off-season rooms at even middle-of-the-road hotels. No one expects prices to come down much anytime soon, and Americans planning to visit Europe this summer may be in for a rude awakening.  

That is precisely why in the upcoming elections, it is the economy more than anything else that will be weighing on voters’ minds here. The European Parliament is the EU’s only directly elected legislative body, so the results there will inevitably ricochet back to national parliaments across the 27-member bloc. 

Parties and coalitions that are perceived to be more in tune with the  economic challenges with which ordinary EU citizens are wrestling will likely garner the most votes — something that politicians on the right were early to realize. It is why the more right-wing parties like France’s National Rally are succeeding in pulling in more voters from the center — because inattention to the economy could push many back to the more leftward flank.  

Incidentally, the EU list of  President Macron’s Renaissance party is trailing the National Rally’s list by 10 points with less than three months to go. They are making a talking point of support for Ukraine, but however sound the argument may be it is likely going to be lost on French farmers who are fed up with both Brussels and a president widely perceived as out of touch. 

The situation in Greece is also fluid. Syriza is undergoing an identity crisis that even its fresh-faced new party chief, the American-educated Stefanos Kasselakis, has been unable to solve. Pasok under Mr. Androulakis’s stewardship has been quick to capitalize on the turmoil. 

By long tradition a socialist party,  in reality Pasok seems to be moving from center-left to the center.  New Democracy still leads by a wide margin on the national level, but that does not necessarily equate with a clean sweep for its list in the upcoming European electoral showdown.