Greece has been rocked by a political storm as five senior government officials resigned on Friday amid a deepening corruption scandal involving the country’s agricultural subsidy system. The scandal, centered on the Greek Payment and Control Agency for Guidance and Guarantee Community Aid (OPEKEPE), has triggered one of the most serious political crises of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s tenure.
Makis Voridis, Minister for Migration and Asylum (former Minister for Rural Development and Food), resigned directly to the Prime Minister. Shortly after, three deputy ministers—Tasos Chatzivasileiou (Foreign Affairs), Dionysis Stamenitis (Rural Development and Food), and Christos Boukoros (Digital Governance)—also stepped down, along with Giorgos Stratakos, Secretary General of the Ministry of Rural Development.
The Greek government has said their replacements will be announced in the coming days.
These resignations follow closely on the heels of a parliamentary briefing concerning the contents of a judicial case file related to alleged systemic fraud within OPEKEPE. The case involves accusations that numerous individuals falsely presented themselves as new farmers in order to receive substantial agricultural subsidies between 2019 and 2022. The scheme reportedly relied on misrepresenting ownership or leasing of large rural properties, many of which were public lands intended solely for pasture, often located far from applicants’ actual residences. Investigators claim that participants also submitted fraudulent livestock declarations in order to secure and retain these EU-funded payments.
According to judicial findings from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), the fraud was not only extensive but also highly organized, allegedly involving a network that spanned from civil servants to senior political figures and private consultants. Documents revealed by Greek newspaper Kathimerini suggest that the former president of OPEKEPE, Grigoris Varras, had warned Minister Voridis on two separate occasions about irregularities in the system. Nevertheless, prosecutors assert that internal efforts to root out the corruption were obstructed, with Varras ultimately forced to resign, allowing the alleged criminal networks to continue their activities.
In his resignation letter, Voridis maintained his innocence, insisting that no evidence links him to any criminal act. However, he acknowledged that his designation as a suspect in the investigation made it impossible to continue serving as a minister. He referenced the opposition party PASOK’s stated intention to request aactions and parliamentary investigation into his actions, and said his priority now is to defend his reputation before Parliament.
Chatzivasileiou also denied wrongdoing, stating that his only contact with the OPEKEPE president was in 2021 and related to a routine and lawful transfer of farming rights between spouses. Still, he cited personal sensitivity and respect for public service standards as his reasons for stepping down.
The resignations, though sudden, had been widely anticipated as the gravity of the case became more apparent. Prime Minister Mitsotakis, returning from a European Union summit in Brussels, convened an emergency meeting with senior aides and decided to remove all officials whose actions could not be sufficiently explained. Government sources say the aim is to preserve transparency and ensure public trust by demonstrating zero tolerance for corruption.
This explosive scandal is now expected to dominate the political agenda in Athens, as pressure mounts for swift and thorough judicial proceedings. The Mitsotakis government is seeking to contain the damage and reaffirm its commitment to institutional integrity, but the road ahead is likely to be fraught with challenges — not only because the popularity of both the administration and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis himself has declined, but also because the agricultural subsidies scandal is just the latest in a series of controversies to engulf this government. It follows the wiretapping scandal that unfolded between 2020 and 2022, the widely criticized handling of the deadly train crash in Tempi and the Pylos shipwreck in 2023, as well as revelations about state funding being directed to New Democracy party affiliates for targeted propaganda campaigns on social media.
