The Greek government suffered a major blow due to the farm subsidies scandal that revealed widespread mismanagement of EU funds.
ATHENS, June 29 (NNN-XINHUA) — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced four new cabinet appointments, following a wave of resignations linked to a corruption scandal involving the misuse of European Union (EU) agricultural subsidies.
Former health minister Thanos Plevris was named Minister of Migration and Asylum, while Harry Theoharis was appointed Deputy Foreign Minister. Yiannis Andrianos and Christos Dermentzopoulos were designated Deputy Ministers for Rural Development and Food, and Digital Governance, respectively. The officials will be sworn in on Monday, government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis said.
The resignations were triggered by a widening investigation into the alleged mismanagement of EU funds distributed through OPEKEPE, Greece’s agency responsible for handling payments under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Five senior officials stepped down on Friday after being implicated in a case file submitted by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) to Greek judicial authorities. The file alleges that between 2019 and 2021, subsidies were fraudulently allocated to ineligible farmers based on falsified documentation.
All five individuals held key posts at the Ministry of Rural Development and Food during the period under investigation.
The scandal further engulfed the ruling New Democracy (ND) party on Saturday, as two party officials resigned after being named in the EPPO case file. Andreas Karasarinis, secretary of ND’s agricultural organizations, and Yiannis Troullinos, a member of the party’s political committee, both stepped down. Their resignations were swiftly accepted by party leadership.
In response to the allegations and mounting public pressure, the government ordered the suspension of OPEKEPE’s operations several weeks ago.
This was all prompted by the OPEKEPE scandal, uncovered by European investigators who classify this as systematic abuse of European farm subsidy programs. This is money that went to people who weren’t even farmers, as eligibility requirements were bent or entirely overlooked.
The European Commission hit Greece with a €392.2 million fine, and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office opened a full investigation to uncover what happened with farm subsidies in Greece all these years.
The Greek government’s response was to shut down OPEKEPE altogether—essentially admitting the system was totally broken and the situation was beyond repair. Nonetheless, closing an agency doesn’t resolve the political damage, as the scandal has already prompted hard hits from all corners of Greece’s opposition. — NNN-XINHUA
