As it became known in the previous days through a report by the newspaper Documento, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis received financial support as a “farmer” following an application.
According to the revelations, the Prime Minister was financially supported with an amount about 8.500 euros from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) for 2020 and 2021.
This aid came after Mr Mitsotakis had received compensation in 2019 from ELGA for olive trees damaged by bad weather.
On Tuesday morning, when asked about the above, government spokesman Yannis Economou said that no beneficiary may apply for an exemption from the grant in question, which was also true of the Prime Minister.
In detail, he replied:
«It is the logic of the common agricultural policy, the Prime Minister has been activating for many years for the last ten years historical rights (it is a term of the common agricultural policy) as a condition for the payment of agricultural payments from parcels of land that belonged to his family and passed into his ownership. There is no procedure for someone to request an exemption for a period of time from these rights. Every year you submit this declaration to the OASDE, on the basis of which you activate your rights and receive agricultural payments. There is no way someone can say, I interrupt them for a period of time and come back later. Those who know how the common agricultural policy works in our country fully understand this.».
