The European Commission has given Greece a deadline of November 2 to table an improved action plan for addressing satisfactorily the concerns about the operation of the agency allegedly responsible for the country’s farm funds scandal.
As confirmed by an EU spokesperson, the original deadline was October 2, but was extended by one month due to the August holiday.
The deadline was revealed following a query by the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA) on Friday about the major scandal involving illegal farm subsidies distributed by the Greek agricultural payments agency OPEKEPE (Payment and Control Agency for Guidance and Guarantee Community Aid) without adequate checks.
Responding to a query related to the initial European Commission letter to Greek authorities which was leaked to the Greek press, European Commission spokesperson for Budget and Administration Balazs Ujvari said that “so far Greek authorities have complied” with what the Commission has requested, and there is no reason to suspend funding.
He confirmed the letter dated to September 2024, several months before the scandal hit the headlines in Greece.
Greek authorities had responded to the Commission’s September 2024 remarks with an action plan submitted in June 2025, which the Commission didn’t find adequate and returned it to Athens in early August with requests for amendments.
Balazs Ujvari told AMNA that the Commission “explained very well” in its latest letter, “how we expect the Greek authorities to further improve the action plan.”
Greece was given two months to implement the improvements, until October 2, a deadline which was later extended by one month, November 2, due to the August holiday period.
While “the Commission doesn’t have any reason to believe that the updated action plan will not be submitted on time,” Ujvari said, “in principle, if an action plan is not submitted on time, this could potentially lead to a suspension of funding.”
