L’UE avverte che la Grecia potrebbe perdere i suoi pagamenti agricoli in mezzo a un massiccio scandalo di frode

>##Brussels is seeking to combat a scam to defraud the EU of hundreds of millions of euros.

>Greece risks losing its EU farm subsidies unless it provides an improved action plan by Oct. 2 on how it will stop funds being siphoned off into corruption, as happened in a massive fraud scandal that has convulsed Athens this year.

>Brussels is seeking to combat a scam to defraud the EU of hundreds of millions of euros, in which Greeks received agricultural funds for pastureland they did not own or lease, or for agricultural work they did not perform, depriving legitimate farmers of the funds they deserved. [POLITICO first reported on the scheme in February.](https://www.politico.eu/article/greece-farmers-european-union-opekepe-pastureland-cap-common-agricultural-policy-2/)

>Several ministers and deputy ministers [resigned](https://www.politico.eu/article/greek-farm-scandal-triggers-top-level-government-resignations/) over their alleged involvement in the scandal, which is under investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO).

>After the fraud was exposed, Greece supplied an action plan on how it would address the often [eye-popping abuses](https://www.politico.eu/article/greece-mitsotakis-farm-funds-fraud-eppo-opekepe-agriculture-farmer-pasture/) of payments from the Common Agricultural Policy, which accounts for a third of the EU budget.

>The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture (DG AGRI), in a letter sent to the Greek government last month and now seen by POLITICO, said that proposal had failed to address key deficiencies and did not comply with EU rules.

>“It is recalled that if a Member State fails to submit an action plan, the Commission may adopt implementing acts suspending the monthly payments or the interim payments,” it added.

This was an open secret for decades before it finally popped. I’m amazed at how opaque Greece can be from the outside looking in when all this tomfoolery is not even hidden in any way it’s common knowledge.