The Greek Payment and Control Agency for Guidance and Guarantee Community Aid (OPEKEPE) operated from 2001 to 2025 as the official Greek body responsible for distributing EU agricultural subsidies*.
Under the authority of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food, its mandate was to disburse funds “promptly, correctly, and transparently.” However, the agency was abolished in late May 2025 following a major corruption scandal. Its responsibilities were transferred to Greece’s Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE).
*These EU subsidies amounted to €3 billion annually, reaching approximately 900,000 beneficiaries — including farmers, livestock breeders, cooperatives, and exporters.
In 2012, the European Commission discovered that Greece had misclassified non-eligible areas — such as rocky or shrub-covered land — as pastures in order to claim EU agricultural subsidies.
Out of the 2.4 million hectares of declared pastureland, the Commission deemed 990.000 hectares ineligible and fined Greece €450 million.
In response, Greece filed a case at the European Court of Justice, seeking recognition of its broader definition of “pastureland.”
The EU required that livestock numbers correspond to specific land area thresholds in order for subsidies to be justified.
To prevent subsidy losses, the New Democracy government in 2014 introduced* a “technical solution” — allowing livestock farmers whose local pastureland was insufficient to claim land elsewhere in Greece.
*Although this was intended as a one-off emergency measure for 2014, it remained in effect until 2024.
In 2017, the European Commission adopted a revised definition of pastureland that incorporated Greece’s demands, reinstating much of the previously disqualified land and effectively doubling the amount eligible for subsidies.
Simultaneously, the SYRIZA government allowed individuals who owned pastureland — but did not own livestock — to become subsidy recipients, provided they agreed to cut the grass at a specified height annually.
The policy shift led to a sharp increase in subsidy claims. Between 2019 and 2022, applications for pastureland exploded — as did the number of new beneficiaries.
The majority came from Crete, which in 2020 received two-thirds of the EU’s total agricultural subsidies allocated to Greece.
In that region alone, subsidy disbursements skyrocketed from €6.8 million in 2018 to €30.2 million in 2020. The official sheep and goat population also surged — from 178,216 animals in 2015 to around 1.4 million in 2020 — a staggering 708.7% increase.
Applicants — primarily from Crete but also from other regions — claimed ownership or lease of land located across the country, sometimes even outside Greece.
Cross-checks of tax records (specifically the E9 property declarations) up until 2020 revealed that many of the claimed plots were never listed in prior records.
In 2021, then-OPEKEPE president Dimitris Melas issued a directive limiting E9 audits to a single year, effectively halting longitudinal checks that could uncover inconsistencies.
OPEKEPE, along with a private company that had access to land mapping systems, allegedly provided with insider information about which plots were eligible for subsidies.
Political figures, senior officials, and employees implicated in the fraud either turned a blind eye to suspicious applications, helped applicants bypass controls, or demanded kickbacks from the illicit payouts.
Presidents and inspectors — like Vivi Tycheropoulou, who uncovered the tax ID (AFM) manipulation scheme — were forced out when they tried to intervene.
In 2020, under president Grigoris Varras, thousands of suspicious tax IDs were identified and flagged for legal action. Shortly afterward, Varras was dismissed. Then-Minister of Rural Development Makis Voridis denied any involvement.
In 2023, another OPEKEPE president, Evangelos Simandrakos, also blocked thousands of suspicious applicants. He faced criticism from Minister Lefteris Avgenakis and eventually resigned. Avgenakis later ordered the unblocking of those tax IDs.
In late May 2025, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) and Greek police raided OPEKEPE’s headquarters as part of a corruption probe.
The staff’s refusal to cooperate led to the resignation of president Nikos Salatas — the sixth to leave the role in five years — who publicly stated that “most of the fraudulent activity” took place during 2022 and 2023.
Last week, the EPPO submitted a case file to the Greek Parliament implicating two former ministers — Lefteris Avgenakis and Makis Voridis — along with 10 sitting MPs (8 from New Democracy, 1 from PASOK, 1 from SYRIZA). More names may follow.
Voridis and four other cabinet members have since resigned, while Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis pledged to conduct internal reviews and recover lost EU funds.
The European Commission has already fined Greece €400 million for the 2016–2023 period — a penalty that will be covered by the Greek state. An additional €155 million relates to irregularities from 2021–2022, and more penalties may be on the way.
