Mitsotakis explains decision to dissolve OPEKEPE amid scandal

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, successful his weekly κοινωνικά media post, addressed the determination to dissolve OPEKEPE amid the scandal involving the misuse of European Union cultivation subsidies.

“This past week was defined by a captious decision: the dissolution of OPEKEPE and the integration of its responsibilities and unit into the AADE. The extremity is to found a unified, transparent, and businesslike system for managing cultivation payments and subsidies,” Mitsotakis said, comparing the situation to a Gordian knot that indispensable beryllium cut.

He acknowledged that the existing system had go plagued by inefficiency and misuse.

“The existent system has allowed mediocre practices, delays, and abuses to flourish, issues that bespeak poorly connected everyone involved. We indispensable admit that contempt our efforts, these dysfunctions were not addressed effectively.”

The Prime Minister stated that the afloat integration of OPEKEPE into AADE will beryllium completed by the 2nd fractional of 2026, with EU subsidies to farmers not interrupted during this transition.

At the aforesaid time, the authorities is working intimately with European authorities to analyse cases of fraudulent claims involving EU cultivation funds.

“We beryllium it to the hardworking farmers who run with integrity. We beryllium it to the country,” Mitsotakis concluded.

Last week, the authorities announced it would dissolve the bureau and transfer its responsibilities to the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE), pursuing years of corruption scandals and EU investigations.

Earlier this month, connected May 19, prosecutors from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), accompanied by 20 officers from the Hellenic Police’s anti-corruption unit, raided OPEKEPE’s headquarters. Authorities said they uncovered an extended strategy involving fictitious pastureland claims used to illegally get EU funds.