European Commission Sets Greece Deadline to Act on Farm Funds Scandal

Greek cultivation payments bureau OPEKEPE is accused of distributing EU workplace funds to individuals for pastureland they fraudulently claimed to ain oregon lease. Credit: tiseb, CC BY 2.0/flickr

The European Commission has fixed Greece a deadline of November 2 to array an improved enactment program for addressing satisfactorily the concerns astir the cognition of the bureau allegedly liable for the country’s workplace funds scandal.

As confirmed by an EU spokesperson, the archetypal deadline was October 2, but was extended by 1 period owed to the August holiday.

The deadline was revealed pursuing a query by the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA) connected Friday astir the large ungraded involving amerciable workplace subsidies distributed by the Greek cultivation payments bureau OPEKEPE (Payment and Control Agency for Guidance and Guarantee Community Aid) without capable checks.

Responding to a query related to the archetypal European Commission missive to Greek authorities which was leaked to the Greek press, European Commission spokesperson for Budget and Administration Balazs Ujvari said that “so acold Greek authorities person complied” with what the Commission has requested, and determination is nary crushed to suspend funding.

He confirmed the missive dated to September 2024, respective months earlier the ungraded deed the headlines successful Greece.

Greek authorities had responded to the Commission’s September 2024 remarks with an enactment program submitted successful June 2025, which the Commission didn’t find adequate and returned it to Athens successful aboriginal August with requests for amendments.

Balazs Ujvari told AMNA that the Commission “explained precise well” successful its latest letter, “how we expect the Greek authorities to further amended the enactment plan.”

Greece was fixed 2 months to instrumentality the improvements, until October 2, a deadline which was aboriginal extended by 1 month, November 2, owed to the August vacation period.

While “the Commission doesn’t person immoderate crushed to judge that the updated enactment program volition not beryllium submitted connected time,” Ujvari said, “in principle, if an enactment program is not submitted connected time, this could perchance pb to a suspension of funding.”