NIKAIA, Greece, Nov 30 (Reuters) – Greek farmers clashed with police on Sunday during protests in central and northern regions over the delayed payment of European Union subsidies prompted by an investigation into a corruption scandal that has rocked the country.
Hundreds of farmers took to the streets, blocking roads with their tractors in several areas to protest against the conservative government over an estimated 600-million-euro ($696 million) shortfall in EU aid and other payments.
Near the central city of Nikaia, police fired teargas at the protesters who tried to break barricades, a Reuters witness said.
The delay in payments comes amid investigations into a scandal in which some farmers allegedly faked land and livestock ownership to receive EU agricultural subsidies.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), which is investigating crimes against the financial interests of the EU, said this year it had found evidence that Greek farmers, helped by state officials, misappropriated the EU funds.
Greek authorities have launched separate investigations and parliament is probing the government agency OPEKEPE, which distributes roughly 2.5 billion euros in EU aid annually to hundreds of thousands of farmers.
The government, which has promised transparency, has acknowledged that the first instalment of EU subsidies is lower than last year and that over 40,000 of farmers’ applications were under inspection.
($1 = 0.8624 euros)
(Reporting by Alexandros Avramidis and Renee Maltezou; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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