Greek European prosecutors remain: Athens under supervision for another 2 years

Three Greek European prosecutors will remain in office for another two years. For Athens this means: affairs on European money, including OPECPEPEBrussels is not going to let go.

Supreme Judicial Council of Civil and Criminal Justice of Areopagus unanimously extended the terms of office of the three Greek delegated European prosecutors by two years – Popi Papandreou, Harikliya Thanu And Dionysios Mouzkakis. They will continue to work in the Greek division Ευρωπαϊκή Εισαγγελία (European Prosecutor’s Office, EPPO)as reported Kathimerini.

Formally, the decision is explained by the need to complete the cases that these prosecutors are already processing. But the political meaning is much broader: Greece will remain under close scrutiny for at least two more years EPPO in cases involving European funds, subsidies and possible abuses.

The decision was made by 11 members of the Council with the participation of the chairman Areopagus Anastasia Papadopoulou and the prosecutor of the high court Konstantinos Zavellas. The Greek side extended its powers for two years, although the Board European Prosecutor’s Office back in November, according to Greek media, it approved a five-year extension.

Two years instead of five

This is where the fun begins. Athens claims that the issue of extending the term of Greek delegated European prosecutors falls within the competence of Supreme Judicial Council based on the Constitution and Greek legislation. IN EPPOjudging by the development of the conflict, they look at the situation differently: European prosecutors are interested in the stability of their people on the ground, especially when they are conducting sensitive cases.

Edition Ta Nea describes the situation as a “tightrope” relationship between Areopagus And Laura Kovesi. And this is a completely accurate formula: Athens did not want to automatically accept the five-year European logic, but they also could not completely remove prosecutors handling important cases.

The result was a compromise that was unpleasant for anyone who expected to quickly close sensitive folders. The term was not extended by five years, but it was not cut short either. This means that current cases remain with the same prosecutors, and the Greek political class will not be able to pretend for some time that Brussels is tired, distracted and forgotten.

OPECPE and European money

What makes this decision particularly serious is the case ΟΠΕΚΕΠΕrelated to the distribution of European agricultural subsidies. Materials EPPO have already been submitted to parliament, and the topic itself has long become painful for the government: we are talking not just about technical errors in payments, but about suspicions around the system through which the money passed EU.

European prosecutors deal with crimes affecting the financial interests of the European Union: subsidy fraud, corruption, misuse of European funds and schemes where national authorities too often choose to look the other way. For Greece this is a particularly sensitive area. People here like to receive money from Brussels quickly, but explain their future fate much more slowly.

Against this background, the extension of the powers of the three European prosecutors looks like a signal: cases will not simply be transferred to new people, drawn out, lost in the procedure or conveniently forgotten. And if someone in Athens hoped that the conflict over deadlines would help weaken control, so far the result has been the opposite.

The Greek branch of EPPO will be strengthened

In addition to extending the powers of current prosecutors, three more people are expected to be appointed to the Greek department EPPO. The number of places should increase from 10 to 13. This step was previously requested by the European Attorney General Laura Kovesiand the Minister of Justice Georgios Floridis approved staff expansion.

This is also an important detail. If the number of cases increases and the Greek branch is strengthened, it means that Brussels does not consider what is happening in Greece to be a random set of minor violations. Quite the contrary: the volume of work is such that the previous strength is no longer enough.

The seven-year mandate ends in October 2026. Laura Kovesi. According to Kathimerinishe should be replaced by the current deputy Andreas Ritterspecializing in economic crimes and fraud involving European funds. That is, even Kovesi’s departure does not mean that EPPO will suddenly become softer towards Greek affairs. Brussels appears to already have its next set of eyes.

Editorial comment

This is bad news for the Greek political system. Two more years of European prosecutorsalready handling sensitive cases, will remain in place. Formally, to complete the ongoing investigations. Essentially, so that no one in Athens relaxes and starts making too independent decisions when it comes to European money.

At first, the Greek authorities were allowed for years to build a convenient system for distributing funds EUwhere responsibility was dissolved between departments, parties, intermediaries and “technical errors.” Now Brussels seems to prefer to keep the process under its own control. And it looks quite simple: if a country receives European money, but unable to convincingly explain where they goappears nearby EPPO. Not out of love for justice, of course. It’s just that the wallet in Brussels is also not rubber, as it suddenly turned out.

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