Greek Police Arrest 20 in Crete Over Alleged €3M EU Farm Subsidy Fraud

Greek police arrested 20 people in Crete on Monday over an alleged €3 million fraud involving European Union farm subsidies, deepening a political scandal already linked to resignations and investigations inside the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Police said the group allegedly secured EU agricultural payments through false declarations tied to farmland ownership and grazing rights. Authorities believe the operation had been running since 2019.

Among those arrested were two accountants and state employees accused of helping farmers submit allegedly false applications for EU funding. The case forms part of a wider investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office into suspected misuse of EU agricultural money in Greece.

The scandal has become increasingly damaging for the Greek government because it no longer looks like a small local fraud case. Investigators are examining whether weaknesses inside the subsidy system allowed fraudulent claims to continue for years while millions of euros in EU money were being distributed.

Last year, European prosecutors charged dozens of livestock breeders accused of falsely claiming grazing land in order to receive EU subsidies. The investigation also examined the alleged involvement of public officials and political figures connected to the administration of the payments.

Political pressure intensified further in April when Greece’s parliament voted to lift the immunity of 13 lawmakers from the ruling New Democracy party so they could be investigated over separate subsidy-related allegations.

The scandal is becoming increasingly difficult for the government to contain as the investigation shifts beyond individual fraud allegations and towards questions about how EU subsidy payments were monitored in the first place. Opposition parties have already called for early elections, arguing the case exposes deeper problems inside the state bodies responsible for handling European funding.

With parliamentary elections due by spring 2027, the government is facing growing pressure to show that the investigations are moving quickly and that accountability is being enforced before the political fallout spreads further.