In very high tones, with “explosions” from MPs, as well as “jabs” regarding the management of agricultural protests, the briefing of Minister of Rural Development and Food Kostas Tsiaras to the parliamentary group of New Democracy took place at the Piraeus offices. The subject was the agricultural issue, specifically the management of payments under Measure “23”.

“The checks were a prerequisite. If checks hadn’t been conducted, the European funds themselves would have been at risk,” Mr. Tsiaras told MPs during the 4.5-hour session, according to protothema.gr.

He described the agricultural protests as large and added that “each block in the country has its own demands. That is why the farmers haven’t formed a coordination committee. If we don’t sit at the table to talk, the protest will be completely blind. However, their basic demands, such as reduction in production costs, have been met.”

“We all understand that maximalist demands like ‘guaranteed low prices’ cannot exist. Not in Greece, and nowhere else…” he also said, noting that “where less money was allocated (beyond the 2,000 committed tax IDs), it was because issues were found during the checks.”

An intervention followed from Andreas Lykourentzos regarding the withholding of funds in ELGA: “This issue appeared for relatively few people. The farmers themselves have for thirty years chosen the way these contributions are paid. For those whose funds were withheld, it was done with their consent. That is, they had declared a withholding via OPEKEPE.”

The MPs

From her side, the Magnesia MP Zetta Makri described participation in the agricultural roadblocks as “unprecedented,” saying: “All our people are inside [the blocks], so why did the situation get out of hand communication-wise?”

Karditsa MP Aristotelis Spanias commented that “the money should not have been taken from the ELGA accounts. A way should have been found to prevent this,” with Mr. Lykourentzos responding that doing so would have created a legality problem.

According to sources, many MPs raised the issue of incomplete payments under Measure 23, which had caused yesterday’s reaction among ND MPs, as well as the matter of ATAK for fields. Some MPs question the model of transferring OPEKEPE responsibilities to AADE.

Second Thessaloniki MP Fanis Pappas mentioned a series of payment problems due to checks: “Cross-checks are done by AADE, but there are serious issues. And what is AADE? Gods?”

MP Andreas Katsaniotis commented: “Even in the tax offices there were corrupt officials. And in customs too. But we didn’t close the tax offices or customs.” He also said, “If we don’t have a plan to approach farmers and just wait for the protests to deflate, we will be surprised.”

During the session, there were intense discussions about Mr. Tsiaras’ remarks on “a major cleanup and a huge reform effort.”

Former Minister of Rural Development Makis Voridis said: “Do we have a strategy to defuse the crisis? Because I don’t see one.”

Christos Boukoros added: “We are getting a lot of criticism outside, but to say something positive: In Magnesia, Measure 23 has been paid satisfactorily.”

There was a heated exchange between Fotini Arabatzi and OPEKEPE head Giannis Kavadas, with the Serres MP’s shouting audible outside the room. “You are mocking us,” she yelled.

36 MPs were present in the briefing, with 20 participating via Zoom.

Statements by the MPs

The session took place amid heightened interest after a joint statement by six “blue” MPs, who pressured OPEKEPE and the ministry to release the funds. Fotini Arabatzi, Theodoros Karaoglou, Nikos Panagiotopoulos, Dimitris Kyriazidis, Giannis Paschalidis, and Giannis Giorgos had requested yesterday that payments be made immediately to eligible farmers whose crops were affected by natural disasters, noting that the implementation of the measure had led to “groundless, abusive and unfair exclusions.”

Zetta Makri

Andreas Katsaniotis and Miltos Chrysomallis

According to their announcement, despite the “warning signal” they had sent regarding the supplementary payment of coupled aid, “the OPEKEPE administration decided to retroactively apply ownership verification and cross-checking filters,” leaving thousands of producers out of payments, even though they had been classified as Eligible Support Applications under Measure 23 with the official signature of the General Secretary of Union Resources.

Statements of Zetta Makri upon her arrival:

Zetta Makri enters the ND offices

According to the MPs, out of the €178,507,863.52 allocated by the program, €157,466,387.8 was ultimately distributed, intensifying reactions regarding unjustified exclusions. “It is unacceptable for the state to question its own actions and contradict itself,” they point out.

Statements of Stratos Simopoulos: