Mitsotakis leads EU corruption-soaked government but von der Leyen does nothing

Greece is bleeding, and the Mitsotakis government is wielding the knife. The OPEKEPE (Organisation for Payments and Control of EU Subsidies) scandal, a billions of euros fraud of EU agricultural subsidies embezzlements, exposes a rotten core — one Brussels can no longer pretend not to see.

From 2019 to 2025, fraudsters siphoned funds through OPEKEPE for non-existent farms, fictitious livestock, and inflated organic farming claims, particularly in Crete, where €705 million in applications dwarfed a €298 million budget. Unverified certifications from all around the country fuel the scam, with many producers falsely claiming massive beehive and livestock counts, as well as imaginary farmlands.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) dropped a bombshell in June 2025, submitting a 3,000-page case file to the Greek Parliament, implicating former Agriculture Ministers Makis Voridis and Lefteris Avgenakis in potential crimes such as breach of trust and conspiracy against EU financial interests.

Wiretapped conversations revealed a “criminal organisation” shielded by political cronies, involving MPs from New Democracy, PASOK, and SYRIZA. Five top officials, including Voridis and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tasos Chatzivasileiou, resigned on June 27, 2025, but accountability remains elusive.

In fact, it gets worse. Deputy Transport Minister Konstantinos Kyranakis spilled the beans live on national TV, admitting that probably most New Democracy MPs have in some manner intervened with OPEKEPE in order to facilitate voters. Numbers and names for the years 2023-2025 are yet to be disclosed.

The EU has so far slapped Greece with a €415 million fine, which is expected to grow into billions as the investigation continues. Mitsotakis announced OPEKEPE’s dissolution, transferring its functions to the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) by mid-2026. But this is not just mismanagement. It is systemic corruption.

The 2022 wiretapping scandal is telling. Mitsotakis, who took direct control of the National Intelligence Service (EYP) in 2019, oversaw surveillance of journalists, opposition leaders like Nikos Androulakis, and even his own ministers and army chiefs. Predator spyware, linked to Athens insiders, infected phones, yet Mitsotakis claimed ignorance. His nephew chief of staff resigned, but no real justice followed.

Greece’s press freedom rank plummeted to 107th globally in 2023, the EU’s worst. The media suffocates under a government that has funnelled hundreds of millions to loyal outlets. A “fake news” law from the pandemic threatens five-year prison terms for dissent. Reporters such as Thanasis Koukakis, targeted for exposing corruption, face harassment. Strategic lawsuits silence critics, while Mitsotakis calls press freedom concerns “nonsense”.

This is authoritarianism in neoliberal attire. Corruption permeates every sector, eroding democracy. The 2023 Tempi train crash, killing 57, exposed neglected infrastructure and cronyism. Evidence was destroyed, investigations stalled, and victims’ families were smeared by trolls tied to Mitsotakis’ allies.

Shady shipping cartels thrive, dodging taxes under a complicit ministry of shipping. Greece’s shadow economy, 20 per cent of GDP, flourishes as bribes become routine — city planners in Rhodes hid stashes of cash inside home appliances.

Incompetence fuels the crisis. The 2021 and 2023 wildfires devastated Evia and Rhodes, while last year flames ripped through Athens suburbs, exposing a government unprepared for predictable disasters. The same with the destructive floods in Thessaly. Promised relief funds vanished into mismanagement.

Mitsotakis boasts of early bailout repayments, but a third of Greeks report encountering bribery, according to the 2024 Eurobarometer. The National Transparency Authority is a toothless façade. Greeks have now found themselves at the bottom of EU purchasing power rankings, according to Eurostat, but a cast of government supporters flourishes.

At the same time, Greece’s sovereignty, and Europe’s, suffers. Mitsotakis fails to counter Turkey’s Aegean provocations or stem illegal immigration. His “woke” same-sex marriage bill panders to Brussels’ elites, ignoring Greece’s demographic collapse — a 1.3 fertility rate and young Greeks leaving Greece by the thousands spells doom.

The EU’s double standards are infuriating. Brussels relentlessly hounded dissident governments like Poland’s Morawiecki or Hungary’s Orbán for rule-of-law breaches, yet Mitsotakis, the EPP’s darling and Ursula Von der Leyen’s close friend, escapes scrutiny. His liberal posturing shields him, despite Greece’s press freedom score lagging behind Hungary’s.

The EU’s €415 million OPEKEPE fine is a token gesture when billions are misspent. MEPs demanded oversight in 2024, but the Commission stalls, even as the EPPO’s 2025 revelations expose a web of fraud implicating Greece’s political elite. For some reason, the Greek PM has been enjoying some kind of immunity.

How long will this continue? The Mitsotakis government is a master in deception, cloaking corruption, authoritarianism, and incompetence in reformist rhetoric. Greece’s institutional breakdown demands urgent action. Brussels cannot keep protecting its pet student while Greece festers.

As Greeks understand what is happening, they turn increasingly eurosceptic. The EU was supposed to be a safeguard against all this, not a facilitator. Europe’s integrity is at stake. If Brussels is serious about democratic values, decisive action is called for. For crying out loud, do something about Mitsotakis’ Greece before it is too late.