EPPO reportedly investigates alleged grassland subsidy fraud attempt in Romania’s Danube Delta

The European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) reportedly requested documents from Romanian state institutions about how two companies close to the Social Democrat (PSD) Secretary General Paul Stănescu came to request European subsidies of almost EUR 6 million for reeds in the Danube Delta assimilated under a problematic amendment to relevant legislation with the grassland, G4media.ro reported.

After the scandal surfaced in the media, the Agricultural Payments Agency (APIA) stopped the payment of subsidies – which were cleared by the regional payments authority after being quickly made possible by the amendments endorsed in only nine days in Parliament.

Thus, the law amended in 2023 in the Parliament de facto turned the Danube Delta into a grassland, for which subsidies of millions of euros can be requested from the EU, according to an investigation by the show "Romania, te iubesc" from Pro TV.

The law was not amended, though, before the two companies related to Stănescu got concession rights for the reed harvesting activity in the Danube Delta.

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