site.btaGreek PM Mitsotakis Reshuffles Cabinet over Agricultural Subsidies Scandal

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reshuffled his Cabinet amid a growing scandal involving agricultural subsidies. The case concerns irregularities in payments managed by the state agency for agricultural subsidies, OPEKEPE.

The changes were announced by government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis at a press conference on Friday broadcast live by Greek media.

Former deputy minister Evangelos Tournas replaced Giannis Kefalogiannis as Minister for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection.

Margaritis Schinas, former vice-president of the European Commission, will take over as Minister of Rural Development and Food, succeeding Konstantinos Tsiaras.

Makarios Lazaridis, a New Democracy representative in the parliamentary committee set up to investigate the agricultural payments agency OPEKEPE, has been appointed Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Food, replacing Christos Kellas.

Kefalogiannis and Tsiaras resigned earlier in the day after being named in an investigation by European prosecutors related to the subsidies scandal.

Dimitris Vartzopoulos, also implicated in the investigation, resigned as deputy health minister. Marinakis said his responsibilities will be redistributed within the ministry.

Two files were submitted to the Greek Parliament on Friday requesting the lifting of the immunity of Greek MPs in connection with an investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office into the alleged misuse of European subsidies. One file concerns 11 MPs, while the second seeks to refer a former minister and a former deputy minister of agriculture to the parliamentary preliminary investigation committee.