Greece’s agricultural sector is reeling from the European Commission’s decision to withhold €392.2 million in EU farm subsidies, making it the highest penalized member state for such infractions.
This substantial financial correction, formalized on June 11, 2025, stems from systemic and “persistent deficiencies” in Greece’s management of EU funding between 2016 and 2023.
The Greek agricultural payments agency, OPEKEPE (The Payment and Control Agency for Guidance and Guarantee Community Aid), is at the center of the scandal and is being accused of distributing subsidies to individuals who were either not farmers or received disproportionate payments for their livestock.
It was found to have made disbursements without adequate eligibility checks or necessary on-site inspections, creating a pattern of non-compliance that prompted Brussels’ intervention.
The withheld funds correspond to ineligible or poorly controlled expenses, particularly within Greece’s implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Beyond lax oversight, issues included delays in recovering incorrect payments and instances of artificially created subsidy conditions.
Consequently, a blanket 5 percent correction was applied to all Greek direct subsidies, increasing to 10 percent for young farmer schemes (2018-2020), with significant penalties targeting 2021 (€79 million) and 2022 (€76 million) area-based payments.
Greece was expected to receive approximately 1.9 billion euros ($2.2 billion) in direct EU subsidies in 2026, but that’s expected to be cut by 25 percent for the 392.2 million euro fine for payments made in breach of rules and legislation.
The Commission’s ruling underscores Brussels’ frustration with successive Greek governments’ failure to implement proper oversight reforms, a stance recently reinforced by an EU General Court ruling against a prior Greek appeal.
The fine follows a mammoth Greek farm fraud scandal that is being probed by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The prosecutors are pursuing dozens of cases in which Greek citizens received EU agricultural funds for pastureland they did not own or had not leased, or for agricultural work they never did, depriving real farmers of the cash they deserved.
Last month, the Greek government announced it would shut down OPEKEPE, the state agency under investigation. European Chief Prosecutor Laura Kövesi, in comments to POLITICO, vowed to press ahead with an inquiry into the fraud scheme despite what she described as “attacks” and “intimidation” against her staff.
“The vilification of our country continues and its credibility vis-à-vis the European institutions is plummeting,” Greece’s main opposition leader, Nikos Androulakis, said in a statement.
