A decision by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office in the OPEKEPE farm subsidy case reignited political confrontation in Greece, with the government and opposition offering sharply different interpretations of the development.
The prosecutor announced charges against four sitting lawmakers from the governing New Democracy party – Kostas Skrekas, Christos Boukoros, Maximos Senetakis and Katerina Papakosta – while closing the case for seven others who had been included in the file: Giannis Kefalogiannis, Kostas Tsiaras, Notis Mitarakis, Dimitris Vartzopoulos, Theofilos Leontaridis, Vasilis Vasileiadis and Kostas Karamanlis. Last month, prosecutors in Athens also shelved the cases involving Charalambos Athanasiou and Tasos Chatzivasileiou.
The government emphasized that most of those initially named were cleared and stressed the presumption of innocence for the four lawmakers facing charges, noting that the alleged offenses are misdemeanors.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis criticized opponents who had referred to a “government of defendants” and also took aim at the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, saying it “appeared to become involved in internal party competition.” Referring to three ministers whose resignations he had requested, he described them as “honest politicians” who had been publicly vilified and asked who would apologize. Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis likewise called on the opposition to retract the “government of defendants” characterization and said the four lawmakers should remain eligible candidates.
