Euro-subsidies scandal rocks Greece

The Greek government has announced it will close down the Payment and Control Agency for Guidance and Guarantee Community Aid (OPEKEPE), the organization handling the payment of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy funds in the country after a scandal over major alleged fraud involving EU funding, the media in Greece report, as quoted by the Bulgarian news agency BTA.

The functions of the agency will be taken over by the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (IAPR). “When a Gordian knot cannot be untied, it must be cut,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis commented. The OPEKEPE is being investigated by the European prosecutor’s office. The investigation involves hundreds of individuals in Greece. A few months ago Politico wrote it was "the first big case brought by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office over a €2.9 million scam in which Greek citizens received EU agricultural funds for pastureland they did not own or had not leased, or for agricultural work they never did, depriving farmers of money to which they were entitled.” These acts go back to 2017-2020 when “the suspects submitted false declarations of ownership or falsified lease contracts of plots of land, which in reality they did not own or had not leased.” According to Politico, they may have defrauded the EU’s budget of EUR 45 million a year.

OPEKEPE handles EUR 3 billion of European funds a year on behalf of 680,000 Greek farmers and stockbreeders.

Nicusor Dan: Romania needs a fundamental change

After 6 months of political instability in Romania, the new pro-European President of the country Nicusor Dan, who won the second round of the election with over 53% of the votes, was sworn in on 26 May.

The results of the first round of the presidential election on 24 November, 2025, were annulled by the Constitutional Court following intelligence reports of foreign interference in favour of the pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu.

“What the Romanian state needs now is fundamental change,” said 55-year old Dan, previously mayor of Bucharest, after taking the oath as president of the country, and called on Romanians to put “positive pressure” for reforms on the state institutions. The new government must be headed by a political premier, he said, “not a technocrat who would not carry authority with politicians.” Parallel with the negotiations on the formation of a government, measures are to be drawn up for slashing public spending with the aim of reducing the budget deficit and ensuring the financial stability of the country. With regard to foreign policy, the new president of Romania reaffirms his pro-European orientation and readiness to continue the support for neighbouring Ukraine.

Former Albanian President Ilir Meta officially indicted on corruption charges

Former President of Albania and leader of the left-wing Freedom Party Ilir Meta has officially been charged with corruption, money laundering and hiding property from the Albanian specialized anti-corruption and organized crime structure – SPAK – the Albanian Gazeta Shqiptare reports.

Ilir Meta was officially charged seven months after being arrested in October 2024. The ex-president posted on Facebook that he cannot wait “for the trial to begin which will be public and will show the world that SPAK is an organization which blindly serves Edi Rama” (the Prime Minister of Albania).  He states further that SPAK is Rama’s “anti-opposition Task Force”.  Rama’s ruling Socialist Party won a landslide victory at the elections on 11 May, winning 83 seats in the 140-seat parliament of the country.

Meta, who was president of Albania from 2017 until 2022, is a vocal critic of Edi Rama, who is being accused of kleptocracy and of concentrating the entire legislative, administrative and judicial power in his own hands. Ilir Meta says the charges against him are a politically motivated attack against the leader of the opposition, the BTA writes. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 12 years of imprisonment.

Erdogan announces work is beginning on a new constitution of Türkiye

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced he has assigned a legal team of 10 experts to start work on a new constitution of the country, TRT Global reports. In his words, the current constitution, which was drafted two years after the 1980 military coup in the country, is outdated and retains elements of military influence. According to the critics of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been president of the country since 2014, and before that was prime minister for more than a decade, the new constitution of the country could enable him to stay in power after 2028.

Work on the new constitution is beginning months after the arrest of the Mayor of Istanbul and Erdogan’s prime rival - Ekrem Imamoglu – on charges of corruption. According to the opposition in the country, Imamoglu’s arrest is politically motivated.

Compiled by Miglena Ivanova
Translated and posted by Milena Daynova
Photos: parapolitika.gr, presidency.ro, gazeta-shqip.com, trthaber.com