Greece’s parliament on Tuesday approved the 2026 state budget, as expected, with the support of the ruling conservative New Democracy party. The bill passed with 159 votes in favor and 136 against, after three additional lawmakers joined the government majority. Former prime minister Antonis Samaras and SYRIZA MP Andreas Panagiotopoulos were absent from the vote.
The approval came after a marathon parliamentary debate that began on Friday afternoon and concluded shortly after 8 p.m. on Tuesday. A total of 211 members of parliament took the floor, alongside the deputy prime minister, 21 cabinet ministers, five deputy ministers and the leaders of all political parties. The debate was dominated by fierce exchanges over agricultural policy and an alleged corruption scandal involving OPEKEPE, the state agency responsible for distributing EU farm subsidies. The opposition also sharply criticized the government over labor rights, national issues, high inflation and the overall state of the economy.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis closed the debate by announcing a set of additional measures aimed at easing Greece’s housing crisis, while also referring to policies already passed that are expected to boost household incomes in the coming year. He highlighted the election of Kyriakos Pierrakakis as president of the Eurogroup, presenting it as a sign of Greece’s strengthened standing in Europe, and underscored the importance of political stability at a time of heightened geopolitical uncertainty.
Mitsotakis also devoted significant time to agricultural issues, announcing the formation of a cross-party parliamentary committee to address challenges facing the primary sector. He accused the opposition of political nihilism, defended his government by noting that voters had granted New Democracy an outright parliamentary majority, and launched pointed remarks against former prime ministers Antonis Samaras, Kostas Karamanlis and Alexis Tsipras.
Opposition leaders, however, delivered a coordinated and forceful attack on the government. PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis accused the administration of pushing farmers into despair, alleging that the OPEKEPE scandal had exposed abuses benefiting politically connected individuals, while ordinary farmers struggled to survive. He claimed the prime minister had been aware of the issue for years and called on him to provide clear answers, urging opposition parties to cooperate in order to bring about political change and remove what he described as a government tainted by corruption and impunity.
SYRIZA parliamentary leader Socrates Famellos echoed these accusations, arguing that the government had ignored farmers’ legitimate demands and mismanaged agricultural subsidies. Communist Party (KKE) General Secretary Dimitris Koutsoumbas described the budget as deeply unfair and class-driven, while New Left leader Alexis Haritsis said it would be the final budget to rely on EU Recovery Fund resources and characterized it as the first with a distinctly militarized orientation. Additional criticism came from leaders of smaller parties, including Kyriakos Velopoulos, Dimitris Natsios and Zoe Konstantopoulou, who described the government as weakened and nearing the end of its mandate.
