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As Athens cracks down on gangs that stole EU millions, Albanian farmers are left without IPARD funds and without accountability for the scandal
A major police operation on the island of Crete has once again brought into focus the IPARD funding scandal and the stark contrast between the way the countries of the region act and the silence that continues in Albania.
Greek police arrested 20 people on Monday after authorities uncovered a criminal network suspected of embezzling more than 3 million euros in European Union agricultural subsidies over the past seven years. Among those arrested are accountants, farmers and a civil servant, who are suspected of falsifying declarations of agricultural land to unfairly benefit from EU funds.
The operation follows investigations by the European Public Prosecutor's Office and is considered only part of the scandal that has rocked Greece. Earlier, dozens of Greek farmers and officials were put under investigation for document forgery and fraud with European funds, while the Greek Parliament also lifted the immunity of 13 majority MPs to pave the way for criminal prosecution.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has publicly called for the investigation to be expedited and charges to be brought.
Meanwhile, in Albania, the situation remains completely different. Although Brussels has raised the alarm for years about major abuses of IPARD funds, to date no official has been arrested and no concrete charges have been filed by SPAK for the file that led to the blocking of funds for Albanian farmers.
In June 2021, the European Anti-Fraud Office, OLAF, submitted a criminal complaint and an official report to SPAK for massive abuse of IPARD II funds. At the center of the accusations was the former Minister of Agriculture and former director of AZHBR, Frida Krifca.
According to the complaints and preliminary investigations, the funds intended for Albanian farmers were allegedly distributed abusively and in violation of European Union criteria. But instead of facing political or criminal consequences, Frida Krifca was promoted by Prime Minister Edi Rama to a ministerial post, a move that at the time caused strong reactions in Brussels.
For nearly five years, the IPARD file in Albania has been in the preliminary investigation phase. Krifca himself and several former officials have been questioned, but so far SPAK has not come up with any concrete responsibility, while the IPARD funds continue to remain blocked.
Albanian farmers suffer the consequences.
The Ministry of Agriculture opened applications for the National Scheme this Monday with a fund of 5.2 billion lek, while Minister Andis Salla stated that in the first hours alone there were over 5 thousand applications.
But unlike national schemes, for the IPARD III program there is still no concrete deadline for when European funds will be released for Albania.
"We have done all the homework and submitted all the documentation. It remains for the European Commission to assess whether to move to the next step in IPARD III," Salla said today.
However, the fact that the European Union has still not returned the funds to Albania is seen as an indicator of the lack of trust in Albanian institutions and the lack of punishment for the IPARD scandal.
While Greece arrests, North Macedonia sentences officials to prison and confiscates money, Albania remains the only country in the region where the EU funds file continues without perpetrators and without responsibility. /Pamphlet
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