Greece’s ruling New Democracy party has launched an aggressive campaign against European Chief Prosecutor Laura Codruța Kövesi over her office’s investigation into a corruption scandal involving hundreds of millions of euros in European Union farm subsidies.

The escalating clash, detailed in a Politico report, has seen senior conservative officials publicly attack Kövesi and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), even as several ministers and deputy ministers in Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ government have already resigned in connection with the probe.

Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis declared that Athens had a “sovereign right” to withdraw from cooperation with the Luxembourg-based EPPO, accusing the body of carrying out its work “very badly,” the news outlet reported. In a lengthy post on X cited by Politico, Georgiadis wrote that the EPPO’s approach gave him “the impression of organized and targeted political interference.”

Deputy Migration and Asylum Minister Sofia Voultepsi went further, invoking the legacy of late Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu in remarks to SKAI TV included in the report. “Under Ceaușescu, children were made to snitch on their parents … I don’t want Ceaușescu-style justice in Greece,” she said, drawing a parallel between Romania’s communist-era informants and the whistleblowers in the Greek case. Kövesi is Romanian.

Mitsotakis himself has been more restrained but suggested a political motive behind the case, complaining of “selective leaks,” Politico reported.

At the center of the scandal is OPEKEPE, the state agency that distributes EU farm funds in Greece. The alleged, multi-year scheme involved Greeks improperly collecting subsidies for land they did not own or for farm work they did not perform.

The Greek parliament on Wednesday voted to lift the immunity of 13 New Democracy lawmakers over their alleged role in the scandal, according to Politico. The MPs maintained the charges were unfounded and said they welcomed the immunity waiver to clear their names.

Speaking at the Delphi Forum on Thursday, with Georgiadis watching from the front row, Kövesi rejected the criticism.

“I think all this noise is an attempt to shift discussion from the real topic,” she said, according to Politico. “OPEKEPE is an acronym for corruption, nepotism, and clientelism… These are defined as a crime in the Greek law and in almost all the other members of the EU. No one in the world will convince [us] that these categories are part of job descriptions of politicians, here in Greece or somewhere in the EU.”

Kövesi added that she had received supportive messages from Greek citizens, including a farmer who said she had been denied subsidies because she lacked political connections. The chief prosecutor also confirmed the EPPO had received complaints related to the misappropriation of funds in Greece’s health sector, according to the report.

Georgiadis has openly threatened not to renew the mandates of EPPO prosecutors in Athens whose terms expire in the coming months. Kövesi responded that any dispute over the appointments could be settled at the European Court of Justice. “What is the reason to not renew their mandate? … Who has an interest to take out these prosecutors from the cases, from the EPPO, while they did an outstanding job?” she said, according to Politico.

Georgiadis also attacked Popi Papandreou, one of the EU prosecutors assigned to the case, telling Action24 television that she was “blackmailing to get her term extended,” Politico reported.

The EPPO’s investigative file forwarded to the Greek parliament includes intercepted communications between lawmakers, ministers, their associates, and OPEKEPE officials, Politico said. The conversations appear to show politicians seeking favorable treatment in the distribution of farm funds to benefit key constituencies. The file submitted to parliament covers only alleged crimes committed in 2021, while the EPPO’s probe into the 2022–2025 period remains ongoing.

Read more at Politico