Massimo Privitera, University of Antwerp
Greece’s relationship with corruption represents one of the most persistent and puzzling cases in modern Europe. Despite multiple financial crises, international bailouts, and decades of reform promises, the country continues to grapple with systemic corruption that permeates its political and economic institutions. According to the 2025 Eurobarometer survey on Citizens’ attitudes towards corruption in the EU, 97% of Greeks believe corruption remains widespread in their country—the highest percentage in the European Union (Figure 1) . This public perception aligns with ongoing international assessments and recent high-profile scandals that suggest fundamental governance problems persist despite superficial changes. The situation exemplifies the “competitive particularism” described by Prof. Alina Mungiu-Pippidi in her essay Corruption: Diagnosis and Treatment: a system where competing political parties distribute public resources to their own networks of supporters when in power creating a rotating system of patronage that survives electoral changes.
Figure 1: Share of citizens estimating corruption to be widespread in their country
Source: 2025 Eurobarometer survey on Citizens’ attitudes towards corruption in the EU
More recently, Prof. Mungiu-Pippidi, writing about corruption in Greece, argued, based on the reports produced over time by the Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO), that “the more it changes, the more it stays the same”. She points out that, even though Greece scored highly on the Corruption Perception Index before the 2008 financial crisis, the reports revealed that corruption was rampant due to systemic failures, some of which are discussed below.
In the pre-2008 era, corruption was primarily associated with the Socialist Party (PASOK), which dominated Greek politics for much of the post-dictatorship period. The current scandals involve the right-wing New Democracy party, suggesting that the system of patronage has simply transferred to different beneficiaries rather than been fundamentally reformed. This rotation of patronage explains why anti-corruption efforts have produced limited results—the parties that would need to drive systemic reform have instead benefited from the existing system when in power.
Recent investigations have revealed that corruption patterns in Greece have simply adapted to new opportunities rather than fundamentally changed. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has been investigating a massive fraud scheme involving hundreds of millions of euros in EU agricultural funds. The scandal involves officials from Greece’s payment and control agency for agricultural aids (OPEKEPE), who allegedly established a “system of non-controls” that enabled widespread misappropriation of EU funds.
The European Union has taken more assertive action in response to recent corruption cases. In June 2025, the EU imposed a €392.2 million fine on Greece over the mismanagement of agricultural subsidies between 2016 and 2022. This financial penalty represents a 5% reduction in the subsidies Greece was due to receive the following year, a significant economic consequence for corruption-related failures, and it reflects Brussels’ view that there has been “no proper supervision and operation of the subsidy management model for years“.
The investigation has implicated two former Ministers of Rural Development and Food—Lefteris Avgenakis and Makis Voridis—who allegedly aided and instigated the misappropriation of EU agricultural funds during their terms. According to EPPO documents, the then-president of OPEKEPE, Grigoris Varras, described problems with fake pastureland claims in letters to Voridis as early as 2020, but was forced to resign rather than allowed to address the issues.
Political protection and systemic corruption
What makes these recent cases particularly reminiscent of historical patterns is the political response to corruption allegations. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has used his parliamentary majority to block a full-scale investigation into ministers suspected of wrongdoing. The Greek Constitution creates a significant obstacle to accountability by granting exclusive investigation and prosecution power for government ministers to the Parliament itself, a provision that the EU Prosecutor has already urged Greece to modify, and that has long been used to shield members of the government from scrutiny, regardless of their political leaning.
Greece’s corruption problem extends far beyond individual scandals into the very structure of its economic and political systems. Data from the Bridgegap project shows that Greece performs poorly in terms of the Index of Public Integrity (Figure 2), a composite index measuring judicial independence, online services, budget transparency, press freedom, administrative transparency, and e-citizenship.
Figure 2: Cumulative country score by index of public integrity components (1-10)
Source: Mungiu-Pippidi and Parvanova (2025), Report on Causes and Trends of Corruption Risk in Europe-41
Read the report here