Commissioner for Agriculture and Development of the European Commission (EC) Phil Hogan said Greece would receive 19.6 billion euros over the next 4 years. Addressing the Prefect of Thessaly Kostas Agorastos during a session of the regional development committee, Mr. Hogan informed members that nearly EU funds amounting to nearly 20 billion euros would be released for the Greek agricultural sector until 2021. The funds had been earmarked for production costs, supporting new farmers and generally for the support via the European programs for agriculture. Mr. Agorastos said that even though the pace of implementing European agricultural programs in Greece were slow, the rate of implementation had picked up notably. “Aid pending for the past 5 or more years had been paid out to the Greek farming sector”, Mr. Agorastos underlined. He continued by highlighting the discrepancies between production costs in Greece and those in other EU countries citing unfair taxation. On the issue of taxation Mr. Hogan responded that it was an issue dependent on nation-state policies and not the EU.