A political storm has erupted within PASOK following the resignation of Lampros Antonopoulos, Secretary of the Heraklion Prefectural Committee, after his alleged involvement in the controversial OPEKEPE agricultural subsidy case.
Antonopoulos submitted a formal resignation letter to PASOK’s General Secretary, Andreas Spyropoulos, not only stepping down from his role but also requesting a temporary suspension of his party membership. According to party insiders, the decision appeared less voluntary and more like a forced exit, especially after revelations surfaced about him returning €15,668 in subsidies claimed in 2020 for grazing land in Tinos and Evia—despite not being a professional farmer or native of Crete.
The scandal strikes at the heart of PASOK’s anti-corruption narrative. The party had previously accused the government of mismanagement, claiming that the European Public Prosecutor’s investigation primarily concerned the 2019-2023 governance period. PASOK even requested a parliamentary inquiry limited to those years. The New Democracy (ND) party responded, pushing for a full investigation from 1998 onwards.
Party leader Nikos Androulakis had earlier vowed to expel any member proven to damage public interest. “If someone has acted against public interest, they will be removed—regardless of their position,” he stated on Mega TV. The timing of Antonopoulos’s resignation and refund of the subsidy now raises questions about what PASOK leadership knew and when.
The New Democracy party pounced on the opportunity. Minister of Health Adonis Georgiadis ridiculed PASOK’s moral stance, accusing Androulakis of hypocrisy. “Are we to believe he didn’t know what his closest ally was doing?” he said, referencing Antonopoulos’s high-profile ties within PASOK.
Meanwhile, ND spokesperson Alexandra Sdoukou questioned whether more PASOK officials could be implicated, stressing the need for a full investigation across all governing periods. She criticized PASOK’s “selective outrage” and accused the party of trying to score political points with a narrow focus.
PASOK MP Manolis Christodoulakis, however, maintained that the party supports transparency and accountability “no matter who is affected.”
Antonopoulos claims he acted entirely within the law and returned the funds purely for reasons of ethical sensitivity. Still, his resignation and the wider political fallout mark a major embarrassment for PASOK—especially given the proximity of Antonopoulos to Androulakis and the symbolism of Heraklion, the PASOK leader’s home turf.
