How Greek farmers milked EU funds from imaginary cows

How Greek farmers milked EU funds from imaginary cows A POLITICO analysis of official data reveals gaps between subsidy claims and recorded livestock numbers. By NEKTARIA STAMOULIin Athens Illustration by Arnau Busquets Guàrdia/POLITICO Greek farmers claimed EU subsidies for tens of thousands more farm animals in 2024 than the country’s official records can account for, according to a POLITICO analysis of government data. The finding threatens to expand a wider Greek farm-subsidy scandal. The analysis reveals discrepancies between a shrinking national cattle herd as reported by ELSTAT, Greece’s statistics agency, and the subsidies recorded by the Greek agriculture ministry. Recent farm scandals have prompted the Athens government to promise overhauls and increase controls over agriculture. “Greek livestock farming is turning a new page,” Agriculture Minister Margaritis Schinas said at a press conference in June. “It is fulfilling its commitments to the EU and entering a new era in the agriculture sector — one governed by rules, transparency and reliability.” But the data discrepancies suggest there is further to go before the government has enough information to get a grip on the issue. For 2024, data from the agriculture ministry shows that the Greek authorities paid out EU subsidies for about 260,000 lactating cows, according to figures cited by a Greek agricultural news site and confirmed by POLITICO with the agricultural ministry. Because a lactating cow generally produces one calf a year, those cows should have added roughly the same number of calves to the national herd. The agriculture ministry data also shows that during 2024 about 70,000 cattle were slaughtered for meat, which also qualifies for subsidies. Greece does not publish comprehensive figures for cattle that are culled because of age, declining productivity or disease. But three Greek cattle breeders told POLITICO that such removals amount to roughly 20 percent of the herd each year. Given that there were about 600,000 head of cattle in Greece in 2024, according to ELSTAT, that would be a decrease of about 120,000 animals. Taken with the subsidies data, that estimate suggests the national herd should have grown by roughly 70,000 that year. The Mornos artificial lake, near the village of Lidoriki, about 240 km northwest of Athens. | Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP via Getty Images Instead, data compiled by ELSTAT through annual surveys show the national herd has been shrinking, from about 640,000 in 2023 to 600,000 in 2024 to 520,000 in 2025, according to the most recent figures published in June. The discrepancy could be even larger, said Nikos Dimopoulos, chair of the Kavala Livestock Farmers’ Association. For instance, some of the animals that were slaughtered might have been imported rather than removed from the national herd. In most years, Greece is a net importer of live cattle and exports only small numbers. “There’s no oversight and we cannot have an exact figure because there is no accurate data,” Dimopoulos said. Authorities only carry out spot checks or investigate following a complaint. Similar discrepancies appear in Greece’s sheep and goat records. ELSTAT reported a population of about 8.8 million animals in 2025, while some 15.7 million were registered in the country’s Integrated Veterinary Information System, a government database. Two agriculture ministry officials, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the issue, said the ministry is not responsible for maintaining livestock records and relies on data supplied by municipalities. The country lacks a secure and reliable registry on which to base the payment of livestock subsidies, experts say. “Unless we carry out a nationwide census of livestock to see what we actually have, we will not have a clear picture,” Dimopoulos said. Cows that appear to have fire burn wounds try to relocate during a wildfire in Velestino July 26, 2023. | Nephele Nomikou via Getty Images Complaints a