It was only a matter of time before the lid came off the disclosures about projects being dropped from the Recovery Fund and missed opportunities under Greece 2.0.

Following the list of over 100 projects that were never carried out or completed, presented by PASOK MP Pavlos Gerouranos, new details keep emerging.

Considerable attention has been drawn to a file made public by employees of the Public Employment Service (DYPA) through the Pan-Hellenic Association of the Manpower Employment Organization Employees (PANSYPO). Cross-referencing the finalized texts from the Council of the European Union with national decisions on projects included in the Recovery Fund reveals a wave of losses or deliberate “cuts”: project cancellations, budget reductions, drastic scaling-back of physical targets and beneficiary numbers, and the removal of milestones from social, employment, and education interventions.

At the same time, PANSYPO has filed a complaint with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office over alleged urban-planning violations tied to DYPA’s new Central Administration building, which is also funded through the Recovery and Resilience Fund.

Roughly €19.9 million out of a total €36 million has already been disbursed from the Recovery Fund for the purchase of the building, which remains unfinished. With the Recovery and Resilience Facility’s milestone deadline expiring on August 31, the project is considered undelivered, raising a real risk of losing EU funding and shifting the cost onto the Greek state and taxpayers. DYPA has issued clarifying responses without denying the allegations about cuts to social programs or the delays in delivering the building.

€260 Million in Programs “Cut”

According to a PANSYPO complaint based on the newly revised Annex to Greece’s Recovery and Resilience Plan, finalized by the Council of the European Union on August 25, the minimum quantified total of cancellations and reductions affecting DYPA-related programs comes to €260.6 million.

Among them, the outright cancellation of the inclusion decision for the support program for Minimum Guaranteed Income beneficiaries and homeless people, worth €106.2 million, stands out, with the European milestone of 7,000 beneficiaries removed entirely.

A €3.8 million intervention for Roma communities was zeroed out entirely, while a program supporting people on the autism spectrum was cut by 98%, from €4 million down to just €67,000.

In active labor market policies, the target was reduced from roughly 52,000 to 37,600 beneficiaries, meaning 14,400 fewer unemployed people covered, with a corresponding budget cut of €85.7 million.

The Council of the European Union accepted the amendment on the grounds that more suitable alternative options exist, which, according to the European text, allow for reduced administrative burden without lowering the measure’s overall ambition. PANSYPO disputes this framing and is asking for clarification on which programs now cover the 14,400 unemployed people removed from the original target.

“Voluntary Withdrawal” From €39 Million in Projects

Two training sub-projects worth €39.2 million were canceled in January, with the stated reason being DYPA’s own voluntary withdrawal from implementing them, a characterization the union says differs substantially from a simple tender delay or technical difficulty.

The energy upgrade program for DYPA’s front-line buildings was also scaled back, from 118 to 40 buildings, while the modernization project for Apprenticeship Vocational Schools (EPAS) shrank through three successive stages, from 270 workshops and 33 buildings initially down to complete removal of the related milestone.

The official justifications recorded in the EU documents cite lower-than-expected demand, unforeseen tender delays, and technical difficulties. PANSYPO is demanding a full administrative accounting, including when each deviation was identified and who was responsible for monitoring each program.

Complaint to the European Public Prosecutor

PANSYPO is awaiting the findings of the European Public Prosecutor on its complaint regarding alleged urban-planning irregularities at DYPA’s new Central Administration building, purchased for €36 million with Recovery Fund financing.

The complaint concerns, among other things, the issuance of a Small-Scale Construction Works Approval for extensive interior work on an eight-story building with four basement levels, instead of a standard building permit, as well as construction work beginning before the relevant approval was issued. It also raises questions about a change in the building’s use to administrative offices without a full revision of its earlier 2005 permit and without a new fire-safety study.

According to figures cited by the union, €19.19 million has already been disbursed in three installments, while the building remains unfinished as the deadline for meeting the Recovery Fund’s milestones expires on August 31.

EU regulations governing the Recovery Fund don’t allow for partial achievement of a target after the deadline passes, which PANSYPO says exposes the amounts already paid out to either fiscal correction or being covered by national funds instead. The union stresses that it isn’t prejudging any judicial ruling and is awaiting the European Public Prosecutor’s findings.

It is calling for transparency and accountability over how €36 million was allocated for the building purchase at the same time DYPA’s social programs for the most vulnerable were being cut from the same Recovery Fund, and over who bears responsibility for the risk of losing EU funding.

DYPA’s Response

DYPA has publicly responded to reporting on the new building, calling it mistaken to link the property purchase with the modification or removal of the organization’s other social programs, arguing these are separate funding lines within the same Plan. Regarding the purchase price, DYPA says the financial offer was specifically reviewed by the Housing Committee, which requested additional documentation precisely because of the gap between estimates and the final offer, rejecting the claim that the price was set arbitrarily.

On the urban-planning issue, DYPA cites a specific legal provision, Article 234, paragraph 6 of Law 5193/2025, which added a special clause to Article 29 of Law 4495/2017. This provision states that work on DYPA-owned buildings financed by the Recovery Fund can be carried out under a Small-Scale Construction Works Approval, which the organization says makes the process followed lawful. DYPA also cites a ruling from the Council of State’s Suspensions Committee, arguing that the relocation has gone through successive layers of administrative, judicial, and fiscal review and did not proceed without oversight.