US EditionGreek farmers wrongly took €22 million in EU aid, minister says
- Between 2019 and 2024, Greek farmers obtained over €22 million in EU agricultural funds through fraudulent declarations of land ownership or lease agreements.
- In March, authorities from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office accused multiple Greek livestock farmers of submitting false statements regarding the ownership or leasing of grazing land, prompting the case to be brought before the Greek parliament.
- Investigations revealed over 1,000 claimants illegally claimed funds among more than 6,000 checked applications, while police raided OPEKEPE offices and seized farmers' tax records.
- Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis emphasized that misappropriation of valuable public funds, whether from national or European sources, is unacceptable and announced measures including freezing assets and pursuing legal action.
- The government plans to assign the management of OPEKEPE’s subsidies to Greece’s state revenue authority in an effort to enhance transparency, while parliament will investigate OPEKEPE’s involvement amid ministerial resignations and denials of misconduct.
18 Articles
18 Articles
As a result of complaints, 6,354 cases of aid applications have been examined so far by the Greek authorities, of which 1,036 have proved to be illegal, announced on Tuesday the Minister of Protection of the Greek Citizen, Michalis Chryssohoidis.
The elite authorities estimate that at least EUR 23 million of EU agricultural subsidies have been paid by beneficiaries who have applied for them fraudulently, the Minister for the Protection of Citizens said in March...
At the center of the uproar is the Payment and Supervision Agency, which is already embroiled in a similar mess.
It is only the beginning of the process: over 1,000 Greek farmers and farms are said to have wrongly received 22.6 million euros of EU agricultural subsidies. Their accounts have been frozen.
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