A new outbreak of extreme illegality and fake data for the accidental collection of subsidies through the “golden” organic farming and beekeeping programmes reveals the sweeping on-site inspections by the task force of the Economic Police and inspectors of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food. According to the data available to “Proto Thema”, 50% of the VATs that have already been checked do not meet the subsidy requirements, while almost 3 out of 10 producers falsely described their production as organic.

Withdraw

At the same time, as part of the mass audits ordered by Rural Development and Food Minister Kostas Tsiaras, the relevant departments are receiving applications from thousands of producers to withdraw from subsidies. According to the data so far, more than 4,000 producers of organic products, out of a total of 35,000 who applied for subsidies, have rushed to withdraw their files, and it is estimated that the numbers will increase further.

Ministry sources note that the figures reflect a situation of great concern as, combined with the already reported violations, they reinforce the need to intensify controls. As competent officials point out, there is an ‘unprecedented wave of voluntary resignations even from producers who were not selected for on-the-spot checks’.

Indicatively, there are withdrawals even from already integrated producers in organic farming (Action 1 of P3-70-2.1), after the issuance of the integration decisions. In particular, more than 2,000 withdrawals have been recorded from organic livestock farming – organic beekeeping and as many more from organic agriculture, where an integration table has already been issued. At the same time, the payment of approved beneficiaries remains pending, despite the fact that a public expenditure of 385 million euros has been approved for 22,245 producers over a three-year horizon. It should be noted that the ministry, in addition to the checks on producers, is carrying out scanning of all the Control and Certification Organizations (CCOs) active in organic farming.

The checks are carried out horizontally in the 16 IPPs, with a mandatory 2% inspection rate. And there are complaints about specific organisations (e.g. IRIS and TERRACERT), while specifically in organic farming, cases of producers who bought pesticides banned in organic farming are checked, based on electronic cross-checks. At the same time, audits carried out after the payments of organic schemes have revealed shocking findings. In particular, it was found that more than 30,000 producers had more than 49,000 forged certificates. Investigations are reportedly continuing to determine whether the responsibility for the widespread corruption lies with the producers or the Declaration Receiving Centres.

In the red

However, especially in the area of biological beekeeping, the task force’s microscopeis focused on all regions, but it is a given that special emphasis is placed on Crete, as there are stronger indications of problems there. In the four prefectures of the island 234,000 organic hives (almost 75%) were registered, while in Thessaly the corresponding figure is 134,000 hives. The budget for the organic beekeeping measure amounts to €18 million and applications for a total of €166 million have been submitted for the whole territory, of which €95 million is for Crete.

It is recalled that, according to documents submitted to the Parliament by Lefteris Avgenakis, subsidies for organic beekeeping have been received even by the son of former Prime Minister George Papandreou, with the relevant amount only for the 2021 production amounting to 26,250 euros, without this being illegal.
In particular, from the first checks carried out until July 31 in the Regional Units of Heraklion, Lassithi, Rethymnon and Chania:

■ Just half (50%) were completed without any findings, confirming that the beneficiaries met the conditions of the intervention.

■ 27% showed findings indicating irregularities or deviations from the institutional framework of organic production.

■ In 11.5% of cases, stakeholders refused or obstructed the inspection, which raises reasonable suspicions about the validity of their claims.

■ At the same time, an additional 11.5% of those audited voluntarily withdrew from the process, cancelling participation in the measure shortly before or during the audit.