“Greek sheep scandal reveals enormous abuse options for allocation of EU funding!”

“The scandal about Greek phantom sheep clearly shows the enormous opportunities for abuse in the case of funding. A complete reorganization is inevitable. A few small cosmetic corrections will not be able to eliminate the structural deficits,” explains the Freedom European Parliamentarian Mag. Roman Haider in view of a fraud scandal unimaginable extent in Greece. With non-existent herds of sheep and goats and opaque lease contracts, several hundred million euros were stored.

“This is not an isolated case, as is impressive on the website of the EU Prosecutor Eppo. It is only the tip of the iceberg,” says Haider. In particular, the allocation of EU funds from the Corona Wiederbaufonds “Next Generation EU” is more than non-transparent. “And for this, the EU has accumulated a huge debt mountain, the repayment of which is now massively stressed by the budget,” criticizes Haider. The award of grants to NGOs, in which the Commission rely on the recipients’ own information, is also problematic instead of checking it proactively. “These problems are known, the Court of Auditors has pointed this out several times. Nothing is changed,” said Haider.

The extent of the scandal also shows the involvement of top officials of the Greek ruling party Neo Democratia (EVP): Several ministers and state secretaries have already resigned. The Greek Prime Minister is also an important supporter of Commission President of the Leyen, who had already vacationed on his property. “This could partially explain the inactivity of the Commission,” suspects Haider.

Of course, the controls would have to be tightened and warnings would have to be taken seriously. “For me, this requirement is a matter of course in view of these incidents. But we have to go to the root of the problem,” demands Haider. This primarily means renovation of the funding. It should not be that a few states financed the system and then had no control over their tax money. “The member states know better about the need for funding than the Brussels juggernach. In addition, the incentive to economy and effective control is significantly higher when it comes to your own tax money,” explains Haider.

“It is time for real reforms: independent investigations, hard punishments and an EU that protects taxpayers instead of exploiting it. This is the only way to gain trust – less bureaucracy, more freedom,” Haider concludes.