by vincenzo genovese  & Gerald Fortuna, Sandor Giraff
It’s published
The scandal over the use of the EU Agricultural Fund in Greece is set to play a role in the execution of the EU Parliament’s committee budget later this year.
German Green MEP Daniel Freund had commented on the “fake farmers” fraud scandal, a vast incident that caused political turmoil in Greece and raised questions about the management of EU agricultural subsidies.
The European Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) announced in May that there is an ongoing investigation into agricultural funds and corruption, including corruption, involving civil servants from Greek payments and management agencies.
Five senior Greek government officials, including the minister and three representatives, resigned on Friday, arising from 2019-2022 by Openkepe, the government agency tasked with handling the funds, resulting from a suspected inappropriate management of EU subsidies.
According to the EPPO, “a significant number of individuals” received grants through the agency on a false declaration, including claims for ownership or lease of pastures that were actually public land.
“In September 2024, Greek authorities provided accreditation of Opekepe’s probation and designed an action plan to address the identified defects,” a spokesperson for the European Commission added, “The Commission is working closely with the Greek authorities.”
Freund called on the European Parliament’s Budget Control Committee to investigate whether alleged fraud refers to a deeper structural issue in the management of Greek EU funds.
“This issue will certainly play a role in the discussions regarding the implementation of the committee’s budget from the summer onwards,” he said.
The committee said it could not comment on the ongoing EPPO criminal investigation or criminal trial.
Under EU law, Member States must only accredit payment institutions that meet the minimum standards for the management of EU funds, and if the institution does not meet these conditions, they must be placed under probation and ultimately remove the accreditation.
Greek Prime Minister Kiliakos Mitotakis has publicly recognized the scandal as “evidence of national inadequacy” and has pledged to establish a special task force to address corruption and carry out a prompt and thorough investigation. “Customers can’t control the way we do business,” he told the cabinet, vowing that “Opekepe couldn’t do that job, so the state will do it in the centre.”
In June, the Athens-based EPPO mentioned Hellenic Parliament’s information on the alleged involvement of two former rural development in criminal offences and two former ministers of food. The Greek Constitution states that only the national parliament has the authority to investigate and prosecute former or former members of the Greek government.
This legal limitation forced the EPPO to investigate. This argues that the firm undermines its mandate under EU law. The EPPO has reported the issue to the European Commission, suggesting that the legal protection of the state for ministers limits the capabilities of the EPPO and thus could violate the EU’s prosecutor’s framework.
Makis Volidis, a former Minister of Agriculture who had recently served as immigration minister, was one of those who resigned last week.
“I hope that the Greek Parliament will lift the immunity of the MPs involved in order to allow proper investigations,” Freund said.
