With plan, political will and international cooperation, the government is trying to completely clarify the landscape in OPECEPE and to close decades of open wounds to OPEKEPE, as the Minister of Rural Development and Food said, Costas Tsiarasin SKAI.
“We are trying to solve pathogens that have never been treated. Not to take responsibility, but to ensure transparency and justice, “he said, giving the stigma of the government’s stance on the issue of OPECEPE. Mr Tsiaras has made it clear that there is confusion in the public debate between the European Commission’s fine and the investigation of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
“The issue of fines is completely different from what the European Public Prosecutor’s Office is considering,” he said, adding that the second “is” probably illegal subsidies – money that some people may have received without being entitled “.
Regarding the fines, he recalled that “this is not the first time fines have been imposed in Greece – and there will be a judicial objection to their height”, while stressing that similar procedures are underway in 17 European countries.
For the causes that led to the fine, he referred to timeless omissions:
“It is the result of a long series of failures – we had no land registry, we had no forest maps, we had no grazing plans. All this has been accumulated, it is not the responsibility of a single government. “
As of September 11, 2024, he noted, it has been implemented in collaboration with the Directorate -General for Agriculture of the European Commission of Action Plan for OPEKEPE, which provides:
- Strengthening the body with 100 hires via OAED.
- Completion of special grazing plans pending for more than a decade.
- Utilizing the Land Registry, which “for the first time is available to know which land is declared and from whom”.
At the same time, he stressed that the government’s choice to incorporate OPEKEPE into AADE is “proof of the determination to ensure transparency and justice in subsidies management”.
Regarding the responsibilities for delays in the implementation of European recommendations in the period 2015–2019, the Minister noted:
“I could say it is the one who proposed the technical solution or the one who legislated it. But the essence is not there. “
He did not fail to respond to the opposition spikes:
“Mr. Androulakis would also be a good idea to look at the PASOK governments and see what was happening,” he said, calling for responsibility and seriousness to an issue that concerns the international image of the country.
Finally, he assured that “there is absolutely no danger to the flow of money to the real beneficiaries – farmers and farmers in the country”, while stressing that the government “will leave no shadow of disputes for OPEKEPE”.