The European Commission demands swift remediation; Greek farmers and payment agencies are already feeling the effects.
In Latvia, the fraud involved rural development projects. A company funneled more than nine tons of EU and state aid through sham tenders with affiliated enterprises and forged documents. The stolen amounts have been refunded to the Latvian rural service. The offender and the company have been excluded from project calls for three years and fined.
According to the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO), the abuse in Romania involved wrongfully claiming subsidies for pastures. A sheep farmer arranged leases and registrations in the name of family members and his own company, while officials from the national paying agency helped to classify unassessed plots, overestimated areas, and even forested land as eligible for subsidies. Millions of euros were secured and assets seized.
European justice outlines a consistent pattern in both cases: fraud with EU agricultural funds through false or misleading tenders, artificially inflated claims, and misuse of control systems. In Latvia, this already led to a final conviction; in Romania, charges have been filed and seizures imposed.
In Greece, the consequences are already being felt. Payments to farmers have been delayed for months, withholding hundreds of millions of euros and causing liquidity problems. The reform of the paying agency OPEKEPE has been accelerated; tasks are being transferred to the Greek tax authority, with expanded checks before payment. At the same time, Brussels warns that subsidies could be suspended if deficiencies are not remedied in time.
Furthermore, European justice is intervening in individual Greek cases. Assets of those involved have been frozen and investigations into large-scale irregularities continue. Such steps aim to prevent wrongly paid EU subsidies from being lost. Farmer organizations emphasize that legitimate recipients need faster clarity and payments.
The European Commission has imposed a strict timeline on Greece. The core message is that Brussels will no longer accept spot checks and paper controls. Comprehensive verification of ownership, use, and business activities must become standard before money is disbursed.
This does not only affect Greece: the cases in Latvia and Romania show that fraud with EU agricultural funds pays off as long as national tendering and registration remain vulnerable.