Greek PM Mitsotakis Overhauls Cabinet After Three Ministers Resign

(MENAFN) Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis overhauled his Cabinet Friday following the resignation of three ministers earlier in the day, as a deepening agricultural subsidies scandal continued to shake the country's political establishment.

Government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis unveiled the sweeping changes at a formal news conference, as reported by Kathimerini. Rural Development Minister Kostas Tsiaras, Civil Protection Minister Ioannis Kefalogiannis, and Deputy Health Minister Dimitris Vartzopoulos all tendered their resignations ahead of the announced reshuffle.

Former deputy minister for climate crisis and civil protection Evangelos Tournas is set to step into Kefalogiannis' role, while former European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas will assume the rural development portfolio vacated by Tsiaras. The responsibilities previously held by Vartzopoulos are to be absorbed and redistributed internally within the Health Ministry.

The political upheaval follows a significant move by the European Public Prosecutor's Office, which on Wednesday formally requested the lifting of parliamentary immunity for 11 Greek lawmakers in connection with an investigation into alleged organized fraud involving EU agricultural funds.

At the center of the probe is OPEKEPE, Greece's state agency tasked with disbursing subsidies under the EU's Common Agricultural Policy — a program overseeing the allocation of billions of euros each year. Investigators have conducted raids on OPEKEPE offices and identified alleged complicity among agency officials, intermediaries, and accountants in what authorities characterize as a systematic and coordinated fraud scheme with possible corruption at its core.

The repercussions have been severe and far-reaching. In June 2025, the EU levied a record €392 million ($455 million) fine against Greece over institutional oversight failures, setting off delayed subsidy payments, widespread farmer protests, and ultimately the full dissolution of OPEKEPE. By October 2025, Greek police had arrested 37 suspects across the country in a sweeping crackdown on an organized criminal network linked to the case.

The scandal has now evolved into one of the most politically damaging episodes of Mitsotakis' tenure, igniting ministerial departures, parliamentary investigations, and a renewed national reckoning over governance failures and deep-rooted clientelism in Greek public institutions.

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