Regulation for red agricultural loans, which will be included in the first bills of the new year, was announced by the Minister of Rural Development and Food, Kostas Tsiaras, as part of his presentation on the 2025 state budget.

From the floor of the plenary session of the Parliament, Mr. Tsiaras spoke of an operation to close a pathology, which “concerns 21,000 farmers and more than 750 agricultural cooperatives, the members of whose administrations are with frozen assets, precisely because there are issues and issues related to a specific legislative reality, which comes from the past. And in this way, we are trying to give a real boost to a part of the agricultural world, freeing it from burdens and obligations that come from the past”, he said characteristically.

In his deposition, Mr. Tsiaras also referred to his “personal bet”, namely the consolidation of OPEKEPE. “I am sure that the fellow deputies have established that the pathologies of OPEKEPE are not from the last 2, 3, 5 years, but come from the quite distant political past. The issue is that you, in this case the government, must in every way and with every possibility ensure the smooth flow of European resources to Greek producers, farmers, breeders, beekeepers and fishermen, said Mr. Tsiaras.

“From January 1, 2024 until yesterday, December 11, 2024, OPEKEPE has paid aid of 2.084 billion euros to Greek producerss” informed Mr. Tsiaras and added that by the end of the year a number of four to five more payments are planned.

Despite the problems that exist, I have made a public commitment, my biggest personal bet is the consolidation of OPEKEPE. It must finally operate in terms of transparency and justice and its operation should not be open to any questioning, as a whole, emphasized the Minister of Rural Development and Food, K. Tsiaras. But, he added, “this time period has seen the most payments ever made, at least in number, in the organization’s recent history».