The Parliament in Greece voted on Tuesday to establish a commission to investigate a scandal involving the illegal disbursement of EU farm subsidies to ineligible recipients by the agency responsible for managing them.
The MPs voted on a proposal by the ruling New Democracy party to investigate the former agency, OPEKEPE, and its disbursement practices since its founding in 1998. OPEKEPE was dissolved earlier this year and its role taken up by the Independent Public Revenue Authority, which includes the tax service.
Opposition parties unanimously denounced the government, saying its proposal amounted to a whitewash that ignored the voluminous case file submitted by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and which concerned solely the years 2019-22, that is, the first three years of the current conservative government.
A total of 166 MPs supported setting up the investigative committee; besides New Democracy, it was approved by opposition party Course of Freedom and five independent MPs.
During the debate, the Greek government sought to defend itself against accusations of a cover-up from opposition parties. Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis accused the opposition of launching a “witch hunt” against the government during a heated parliamentary debate over the House’s role in investigating the disgraced OPEKEPE agency, the Greek EU agricultural aid payments authority.
“Greece in 2025 doesn’t need scandal-mongering; it needs truth…But assigning responsibility is one thing and going on a witch hunt is another,” he said.
Describing the agency as an “open wound” that “over time, turned into a tool for political favors,” Mitsotakis defended the government’s proposal for an investigation into OPEKEPE going back 25 years, saying, “We are not only trying to identify those involved, but to find a definitive solution to the problem.”
The government’s proposal, backed by its solid majority in the 300-seat House, is facing opposition from most other parties, which are demanding a preliminary inquiry into findings submitted to Parliament by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office—ones that implicate two former agriculture ministers from the ruling New Democracy party.
In accusing the opposition parties of “playing games of appearances,” Mitsotakis said that they were seeking “to limit the issue to the years of the current administration.” He went on to take a swipe at the two main opposition parties, PASOK and SYRIZA, both of which were responsible for OPEKEPE during their time in government, referring to the “longstanding nature of the problem” and pointing out that “this system was not built overnight.”
Greece’s opposition reacts to the farm scandal
Nikos Androulakis, leader of the main opposition party, PASOK, accused Mitsotakis of trying to “sweep the scandal under the rug.” He stressed that he will support the government’s proposal for an investigation on the condition that it agrees to an ad hoc Preliminary Investigation Committee “so that justice can examine what the European Public Prosecutor has set out in the case file sent to Parliament.”
Androulakis also said that the current PM of Greece and his ruling party are “calling for an Investigation Committee to spread out the responsibilities, even though you know full well that only a Preliminary Investigation Committee can truly investigate your ministers’ potential responsibilities.”
PASOK accused the government of orchestrating a deliberate cover-up of both political and potentially criminal responsibilities linked to former New Democracy ministers. “What we are witnessing is a carefully constructed plan to shield the current administration and its former ministers from scrutiny,” the party’s spokesperson stated.
SYRIZA (the Coalition of the Radical Left) accused the ruling New Democracy party of attempting to deflect attention from its responsibility in the OPEKEPE scandal. It is of the view that “New Democracy is trying to cloud the issue and evade its significant responsibility for yet another scandal—this time concerning OPEKEPE.”
The party further criticized the government for repeatedly attributing scandals to so-called “chronic dysfunctions” of the state, while avoiding political accountability.
Seven defendants found guilty of farm subsidies fraud
Meanwhile, a Greek court delivered a guilty verdict for all seven defendants facing charges of fraud, classified as a misdemeanor, against the European Union for illegally-paid subsidies received from OPEKEPE. The court rejected the defendants’ argument that the charge should be dismissed because the funds in question have been returned.
In line with the recommendation of the prosecutor, the presiding judge found the defendants guilty for their involvement in fraudulent subsidies of pasture land in specific regions of Northern Greece. According to the charges, some of the accused allegedly received—and were aided by their co-defendants in receiving—unlawful subsidies ranging from 25,000 (around $28,500) to 90,000 (around $102,765) euros under programs intended for young or newly established farmers.
The court also upheld the prosecutor’s position on leniency provisions. Defendants had sought exemption from punishment by arguing that financial harm to public property had been remedied. However, the prosecutor countered that the actual injured party was the European Union—not OPEKEPE—since the agency merely manages funds drawn from the EU budget.
Related: Ghost Farms and Dead Men: Greece’s Farm Scandal Uncovered
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