The government and the Hellenic Agriculture Ministry presented the new plan for the transition of OPEKEPE to a different operating model, emphasising transparency, tighter controls and the continuation of agricultural payments without delays until the end of 2026.
Rural Development and Food Minister Margaritis Schinas described the transition of OPEKEPE to AADE as a difficult but necessary process, stressing that big changes require bold decisions. At the same time, he sent a clear message to those who were exploiting loopholes in the system, saying that “the party for those who were exploiting the system is over”. He said that checks would now be carried out in a proper and organised manner, while payments to farmers would continue to be made as normal and on schedule. “We are changing so that we can pay,” he said.
For his part, the governor of the AADE, Giorgos Pitsilis, said the aim is to create a modern and reliable agricultural aid payment organisation. According to the figures he presented, 258 million euros have already been paid to about 166,000 beneficiaries since January 1.
Payments of €297 million are planned for May, while another €509 million is expected to be paid in June to nearly 477,000 beneficiaries. Between July and October 2026, an additional €119 million is planned to be paid to around 732,000 beneficiaries, while a further €491 million is expected to be made available in the last two months of the year. In total, payments for the whole of 2026 are estimated to reach €2.231 billion, covering around 3.4 million beneficiaries.
Special attention was also paid to the new control framework, which will now be based on the model of the AADE’s operation. As George Pitsilis explained, cross-checks will be carried out by teams from different regions, such as, for example, crews from Crete that will carry out checks in the Peloponnese and vice versa.
Referring to the livestock controls, he noted that in 2024 about 2,400 controls were planned, but in the end almost half of them were carried out. For 2026, the target is increased to 5,000 inspections, with much of it already completed.
At the same time, the platform for the single area payment application using monitoring and remote sensing is being opened, while the Agrisnap app is also being activated to allow producers to send in new photos.
As for Pillar II payments, in 2025, around €1 billion has already been paid, of which €400 million was paid last month alone. However, some 711 envelopes corresponding to around €140 million remain open, with the aim of completing these payments by the end of July.
In addition, it was announced that the platform for fertiliser aid will be opened by the end of May and payments will be made in three instalments. At the same time, procedures are progressing so that the new ODS aid will be opened by mid-June, while the MIDA is expected to be operational in the first week of the same month.
Finally, the AADE governor disclosed that myDATA 2.0 for invoices for milk, meat, honey, oil and potatoes is expected to be implemented in 2026, stressing that the main objective is to complete controls and payments in a timely manner with full security and transparency.
