The Greek government is preparing to push back against European Chief Prosecutor Laura Kovesi over the OPEKEPE agricultural subsidies scandal, citing a newly delivered expert report that sharply reduces the estimated damage to European funds.
The report was prepared by Paraskevi Tycheropoulou, a specialist who previously worked at OPEKEPE and is now assisting the European Public Prosecutor’s Office with their investigation. EPPO Prosecutor Popi Papandreou instructed her to determine precisely what financial damage the Greek state sustained from the cases involving 11 New Democracy lawmakers. According to media reports Tycheropoulou delivered her findings to the prosecutor on May 18.
A sharply lower damage estimate
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office had earlier asked parliament to lift the immunity of 13 New Democracy lawmakers, 11 MPs and two former ministers, a step required under Greek law before they can be investigated. The cases involve alleged interventions on behalf of farmers outside the legal rules on entitlement and compensation, with amounts in several instances reaching the felony threshold. The Tycheropoulou report, according to available information, puts the numbers much lower in several instances. For six of them, it categorically rules out any damage to European funds. For the remaining five, it states that if damage occurred, it cannot be proven.
Among the individual cases, the figure for Katerina Papakosta, MP for Trikala, dropped from more than 120,000 euros, an amount that would constitute a felony, to roughly 7,000 euros. For Kostas Tsiaras the figure came in at around 3,000 euros, and for Notis Mitarachi at zero. No damage was determined for the case of Spilios Livanos. For former transport minister Kostas A. Karamanlis, whose case had been categorized as a felony, the assessed damage fell to less than 37,000 euros.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office had put the total damage to the Greek state at more than 1.2 million euros. The Tycheropoulou report, even taken at face value across all the lawmakers, puts the combined figure at around 115,000 euros, roughly one tenth of the EPPO estimate and short of the felony threshold.
Jurisdictional stakes
Legal advisers consulted by the government argue that the report removes the precondition for EPPO’s involvement. The office’s jurisdiction depends on either a risk to European funds or actual damage to them. Absent both, they say, the EPPO cannot prosecute and the cases fall outside its remit.
Government reaction
Government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis questioned the opposition’s handling of the case while judicial proceedings remain open.
“When a case goes to the judiciary and investigations are ongoing, and the author of the report in question can hardly be described as friendly to the government, when something is open before the courts, why don’t they wait? Why are they in such a hurry to politicize an issue?” he said.
He added: “Will those in the opposition who spoke of a ‘government of defendants’ and a ‘criminal organization’ apologize after Mrs. Tycheropoulou’s report, which changes the picture regarding the alleged ‘damage’ at OPEKEPE in cases for which the lifting of immunity was sought for 11 MPs?”
Next steps
The MPs implicated are due to appear at the Greek branch of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office next week to give explanations. Kostas Tsiaras and Notis Mitarachi have already appeared in person, did not request an extension, presented their positions, and are now awaiting a decision on whether their cases will be archived.
The Tycheropoulou report has been added to the case files and will be weighed by prosecutor Popi Papandreou. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office will now have to decide whether to archive some or all of the cases in light of the report and the MPs’ testimony, or to proceed.
