Setting up a parliamentary investigation committee was the only way to fully illuminate and correct the problems at OPEKEPE - the Greek organisation for the payment of EU agricultural assistance - government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis said on Wednesday in an interview with the public broadcaster ERT.
"We are talking about one of the largest and longest-running scourges of the Greek state," Marinakis said. "In itself, the 2.7 billion euros that we have paid as Greece, as the Greek state, as a budget in the last 30 years says it all. A parliamentary investigation committee is the only way to shed light on many of its aspects," he said.
Marinakis emphasised that the government did not wait for the European Public Prosecutor's Office before taking action. "The impression the opposition is trying to create is false and contradicted by the actual facts. No other government has carried out so many cross-checks. Therefore, this needs to be demonstrated in Parliament," he stated.
Referring to the migration issue, Marinakis stated: "Greece is in a better state than it was last year - and in a far better state than in 2019, when we took over. Where do we have a problem, and a significant one, compared to last year and previous years? South of Crete, at the southern edge of our country. Yes, there - below Crete, at the southern edge - we have a problem. Primarily with arrivals coming from North Africa. There, indeed, we are facing a much greater issue, caused by a number of external factors, and mainly by the networks of human traffickers."
"We are taking some emergency measures - but ones that are necessary, absolutely legal, and fully aligned with the European Commission," he stated. "And all of this has been addressed at the European level as well. What does this mean, very simply? That for a few months, we are not processing asylum applications. Therefore, detention," he added.
"So, anyone who comes will know that if they enter Greece illegally, they will be detained - unless they choose to return. This wasn’t the case in the past. But we’re also changing the overall framework for other cases as well. We are making the penalties stricter for illegal residence and abolishing legalisation after seven years. Why are we doing this? To eliminate many of the provisions that existed in previous years - even at a European level - which acted as what we call a pull factor. In other words, an incentive for someone to come to Greece," he explained.