Greek prime minister says no early elections in autumn

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis denied on Friday that he planned to call early elections, as his government faces pressure from an EU farm subsidy scandal.

Mitsotakis told Open TV that elections "will not be held in the autumn". He said his New Democracy party remained the leading party, though with lower percentages, and was still 14 to 15 points ahead of the second party.

Media reports have said people close to Mitsotakis advised him to hold elections in September, before Greece takes over the EU presidency in July 2027.

His conservative government has been shaken by an investigation by the European Public Prosecutor's Office into alleged farm subsidy fraud. The EPPO has already accused ruling party lawmakers and other officials of helping fraudulent subsidy claims worth millions of euros over several years.

Prosecutors say dozens of suspects claimed subsidies for land they did not own and exaggerated the number of animals on farms. The source said most cases centred on Crete, where Mitsotakis' family has held political influence for more than a century.

The EPPO last week indicted four ruling party lawmakers, including the former political secretary of Mitsotakis' New Democracy party. It said it could not pursue allegations against seven other members of parliament and two former lawmakers because of lack of evidence, but said three other former lawmakers remained under investigation.

Mitsotakis has said the fraud began in 2016, before he came to power in 2019. Last week, after the EPPO dropped part of the investigation, he criticised the office and said it appeared to be getting involved in domestic party competition before an election year. He also said honest politicians had been smeared.

On Friday, Mitsotakis said the EPPO needed to "find its footing". He said the Greek government supports the institution, but added that he believed he was justified in criticising it when he thought it may have made mistakes.