The Political Coordination Center of the main opposition party discussed on Tuesday (1.7.2025) its upcoming actions aimed at ensuring that government officials’ responsibilities regarding the OPEKEPE scandal are not dismissed. The PASOK meeting included a detailed briefing about the OPEKEPE scandal from 2017 to 2025 and parliamentary initiatives, focusing particularly on investigating criminal liabilities of involved New Democracy ministers with the goal of preventing statute-barred offenses.
It was further highlighted that the ‘executive’ state has completely failed (with five Ministers of Rural Development and six presidents at OPEKEPE within six years), showcasing administrative and managerial ineptitude that led to an enormous fine, corruption, favoritism, and clientelist appointments that undermine Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s so-called ‘reformist’ image. It was decided that teams will immediately be organized to tour Greece focusing primarily on rural sectors. Once procedures have ensured that crimes won’t be dismissed, elections and political change remain the only solution for Greece to turn the page on corruption and decline.
In his report, Nikos Androulakis raised ‘Three Questions for Mr. Mitsotakis,’ stating he is fully responsible for the OPEKEPE scandal. ‘Over the past hours, we have been observing continuous unsubstantiated statements from New Democracy officials as well as baseless leaks from Maximos Mansion aiming at downplaying the issue. We are dealing with yet another major scandal involving the New Democracy government—a scandal tarnishing our country across Europe and costing Greek citizens approximately one billion euros,’ said the leader of the main opposition and added: ‘I have three simple questions for Mr. Mitsotakis: Since when has he known about the OPEKEPE scandal? Why didn’t he prevent it, resulting in a huge fine? Why did he provide political cover to the party network of New Democracy, which has played a key role in misappropriating European funds? He cannot claim he was surprised by the text of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office indictment because PASOK had already informed him back in 2020 through a parliamentary question, warning him of the danger, and also personally through my statements in 2023, 2024, and 2025—even through an urgent question addressed to the Prime Minister. Mr. Mitsotakis is entirely responsible for this new major scandal affecting our country,’ stated Nikos Androulakis.