The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) investigating the OPEKEPE scandal of agricultural subsidies has formally requested the lifting of immunity of 11 lawmakers as well as of two former ministers. Lifting the immunity will allow the criminal prosecution of the Greek politicians.
New developments in EPPO’s probe into large-scale agricultural subsidy fraud in Greece:
🔹Request to lift the immunity of 11 active Members of Hellenic Parliament;
🔹Referral of info regarding a former Minister and Deputy to the Hellenic Parliament.
More: https://t.co/d5iX3Oiyd6 pic.twitter.com/SEdwF45T37— European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) (@EUProsecutor) April 1, 2026
OPEKEPE is the national agency distributing EU agricultural funds.
EPPO submitted the second major file in the OPEKEPE scandal to Greek top court, the Supreme Court – Areios Pagos – on Wednesday, April 1, asking for its transmission to the Parliament.
According to media, the new file targets 11 active members of the Parliament and two former ministers – a former Agricultural Development minister and a former deputy minister of the same ministry–. EPPO requested that proceedings be initiated based on the Ministerial Liability Aof lawmakers and former ministers. According to the data collected by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, both former ministers are reportedly involved in the scandal with illegal subsidies.
State broadcaster ERT reported that the new file refers to investigation conducted for the year 2021 and refers to felony and misdemeanor charges.
The Parliament is expected to receive the file in the coming days, putting pressure on party leaders to decide whether to shield their members or allow the European-led prosecution to proceed, media reported.
However, should party leaders protect their members this is something that would lead to another scandal.
“Today’s announcement by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office constitutes a serious development,” government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said on Wednesday adding “we await the transfer of the case file to the Hellenic Parliament, in order to evaluate each case.”
This second phase of investigation follows months of scrutiny that uncovered widespread irregularities, including subsidies paid for pastures located on mountain peaks, archaeological sites, and even military installations.
Some media reported that lawmakers were calling the ministers requesting subsidies for their voters.
The first part of OPEKEPE investigation revealed that millions of euros were handed out for fake registration of fictitious livestock numbers and farming in inaccessible areas such as lakes, for example, or mountains peaks when not even grass is growing.
On the island of Crete, some 8 million fake sheep and goats were allegedly registered for the sake of the subsidies.
The Greek SC and parliament probably think this is some kind of bad April fool’s day joke from the EU…
I could imagine a situation where lawmakers need immunity from prosecution for their actions to avoid vexatious cases BUT they should never have immunity where the offense is corruption in a public office. Allowing such immunity only allows corruption to thrive.
In the case of distribution of EU funds I would have thought that the Commission should be able to prevent such immunity? Perhaps telling the Greek government that if they grant immunity to MPs accused of corruption the EU will suspend the disbursement of all EU funds to Greece until the immunity is lifted. That might concentrate the mind.