Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is using his parliamentary majority to block a full-scale investigation into a sprawling agricultural subsidy fraud that could cost Greece nearly €400 million in EU funds.

Despite a detailed case file by European prosecutors naming ministers, MPs, and officials, the Greek government has refused to pursue charges against those implicated.

The scandal centers on a long-running scheme to siphon off EU agricultural subsidies by filing fraudulent claims for farmland and livestock.

As reported in Politico, The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has described the operation as a “criminal organization” involving senior officials in the Greek agriculture ministry and the state agency OPEKEPE, which is responsible for distributing EU farm funds.

Wiretaps, Resignations, and Political Pressure

The EPPO case file includes over 3,000 pages of evidence, including wiretap transcripts that allegedly reveal coordinated efforts to bypass EU controls, manipulate payments, and silence whistleblowers. At least five ministers, ten MPs, and multiple OPEKEPE presidents have been linked to the affair.

Among them is former agriculture minister Eleftherios Avgenakis, who ordered the release of blocked payments flagged as suspicious. He later pressured whistleblower Evangelos Simandrakos, then-president of OPEKEPE, to resign after Simandrakos blocked over 9,000 payments pending further review. The government has since resumed those payments.

In another case, a former OPEKEPE president, Dimitris Melas, allegedly acknowledged the scope of the fraud in conversations but avoided legal action, seeking instead a “political management” of the issue. Melas denies wrongdoing and is currently on trial for unrelated charges.

Protecting Political Allies

The EPPO report also details the case of Giorgos Xylouris, a Cretan farmer with close ties to the prime minister’s family. Nicknamed “Frappé,” he and his relatives were blocked from receiving subsidies due to inflated claims. But senior officials allegedly attempted to override those blocks. In intercepted calls, Xylouris even jokes about killing a key OPEKEPE auditor, Paraskevi Tycheropoulou, and expresses interest in replacing an EPPO prosecutor. Xylouris claims the recordings are selectively edited and denies wrongdoing.

Tycheropoulou, one of the central whistleblowers, has since faced repeated disciplinary actions, lawsuits, and intimidation. Her files were confiscated, and her workplace locker broken into. EPPO’s request for her secondment was rejected by the Greek agriculture ministry, effectively sidelining her from the investigation.

Government Response and Political Fallout

While Mitsotakis publicly acknowledged in June that “we failed,” his government has taken no steps to initiate criminal proceedings against implicated ministers. Instead, the ruling New Democracy party voted to launch a broader parliamentary inquiry into agricultural fund management dating back to 1998 — a move seen by critics as an effort to dilute accountability.

Due to the structure of Greek law, only parliament can authorize prosecutions against ministers. Despite proposals from the opposition to create a commission of inquiry, the government used its majority to shut them down, allowing the statute of limitations on some offenses to run out.

Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis defended the government’s position, stating: “Who has the majority in parliament? New Democracy. What has New Democracy decided? That they don’t want them to be investigated. Period.”

Opposition leaders have accused Mitsotakis of shielding his inner circle. “It’s a pyramid of corruption that has only one person at its top — Mitsotakis,” said Alexis Charitsis of the New Left. PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis warned that the prime minister is being “blackmailed by his own ministers.”

Brussels Reacts as Reforms Lag

The European Commission has already ordered Greece to forfeit nearly €400 million in funding for 2026 — over 20 percent of the direct payments it was due to receive. In response, the government pledged to shut down OPEKEPE by the end of 2026 and shift all subsidy management to the Independent Authority for Public Revenues.

These promises, however, only came after EPPO prosecutors raided OPEKEPE offices, accusing officials of obstructing their investigation.

Although the government claims that inspections have resumed and asset seizures may begin, many officials implicated in the scandal remain in their posts. As EPPO warned in its report, “The same group of suspects could possibly seek to continue unhindered their activities.”

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