A massive EU subsidy scandal has pulled back the curtain to reveal how power operates in Greece
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omething strange has been happening in Greece: animals are appearing out of nowhere. Between 2016 and 2022, the sheep population on the island of Crete more than doubled. Or so claim Greek state records, which, over a similar period, reveal other curious trends across the country. The slopes of Mount Olympus are said to be swaddled with banana plantations, high-security military airports have been turned over to olive trees, and pasture for goats and lambs now extends off the land and out into the crystalline depths of the surrounding seas.
All these claims are as ludicrous as they are lucrative, and they point to an embarrassing scandal that is roiling Greek politics: the revelation that for years, enormous sums of EU funds were being pocketed by individuals claiming them as subsidies for agricultural work that did not exist.
A third of the EU budget, more than is allocated to education and welfare and renewable energy combined, goes to subsidising the agriculture of member states. The more animals there are, the more land is allotted to them to graze – and the more cash gets distributed. In Greece, farming subsidies are dispersed from Brussels to the tune of €2bn a year, equivalent to about a quarter of the country’s wildly bloated annual military budget.
