Where the Money Comes From

Every political programme must answer one question: where does the money come from?

AURIO’s answer is specific. Greece already has access to over €70 billion in EU funding for the 2021-2027 programming period, plus a national budget of approximately €77 billion per year. The problem is not the money. The problems are who gets it, what it is spent on, and who decides.

Greek State Budget 2026

Total state expenditure: approximately €77 billion.

Greece posted a primary surplus of €8.1 billion in 2025, exceeding the target by 52%. The fiscal space exists.

Ministry / Item	2026 Budget	Trend
Defence	€7 billion (2.6% of GDP)	Rising. €30 billion budgeted for arms to 2036
Health	€7.8 billion	Stable
Education	€6.7 billion	Being cut 10% (€700m) over 2026-2029
Agriculture	~€1.8 billion	Being cut 25% (€440m reduction) over 2026-2029
Income support	€3.2 billion	New permanent measure for 5 million households
Culture	Not published in detail	One of the smallest ministry budgets

Source: Greece Draft Budgetary Plan 2026, submitted to the European Commission. Ministry of Economy and Finance.

EU Funding Available to Greece (2021-2027)

Fund	Total Amount	Purpose
ESPA (Structural Funds)	€21.2 billion	Regional development, infrastructure, social
CAP Strategic Plan	€13.4 billion	Agriculture (€9.6bn direct payments, €1bn investment)
Recovery and Resilience Fund (Greece 2.0)	€35.9 billion	Green transition, digital, SMEs, labour
REPowerEU grant	€768 million	Energy transition
Migration and Border (AMIF + BMVI)	€1.6 billion	Border management, asylum, integration
Interreg (cross-border cooperation)	Multiple programmes	Greece-Bulgaria, Greece-Turkey, etc.
LEADER/CLLD	Minimum 5% of EAFRD (~€500m+)	Rural community-led development

Source: European Commission country pages, Greece 2.0 (greece20.gov.gr), EU Cohesion Data Portal.

Recovery and Resilience Fund Breakdown

Total: €35.9 billion (€18.2 billion grants + €17.7 billion loans).

Allocation	Amount	Share
Green transition	~€13.7 billion	38.2%
Digital transformation	~€7.8 billion	21.6%
SME support	€5.2 billion (€1.61bn grants + €3.59bn loans)
Active labour market policies	€770 million

As of March 2026, Greece has received over €24.5 billion (68% of total). All measures must be completed by August 2026.

Source: European Commission Recovery and Resilience Facility country page, Greece 2.0.

Pillar by Pillar: Where AURIO’s Policies Are Funded

Pillar 1: Food Sovereignty

Available funding: CAP Strategic Plan €13.4 billion (2023-2027). LEADER/CLLD estimated €500 million+. ESPA rural development components.

The problem: €9.6 billion of the CAP goes to direct payments that disproportionately benefit large farms. Small cooperative farms, seed libraries and local food networks receive minimal support. Greece’s agriculture budget is being cut 25% (€440 million reduction). Meanwhile the EU-Mercosur deal threatens Greek rice (240,000 tons/year) and honey (25,000 tons/year) producers with duty-free South American imports.

AURIO’s argument: Redirect CAP investment support toward small cooperative farms. Use LEADER/CLLD for local food network infrastructure. Municipal food procurement mandates (30% local sourcing) require political will, not new money. Oppose the EU-Mercosur deal.

Pillar 2: Community Energy

Available funding: €13.7 billion green transition (RRF). €768 million REPowerEU. ESPA energy components.

The problem: Greece has had cooperative legislation for energy communities since Law 4513/2018, but the cooperative form was hijacked by commercial developers structuring as communities to claim priority access. €100 million of EU community energy funds was returned unspent. Greek communities host the wind. They do not own it.

AURIO’s argument: Fix the captured cooperative law with mandatory democratic governance, transparent beneficial ownership, and community priority enforceable in law. Reserve a defined share of green transition funding for cooperatives that pass the governance audit. Community benefit obligations for the Alexandroupolis LNG terminal. Turn the fee into ownership.

Pillar 3: Local Economy

Available funding: €5.2 billion SME support through RRF. ESPA regional development. LEADER/CLLD. Law 4412/2016 Article 20 already permits reserved cooperative procurement; the implementing presidential decree has been pending since 2016.

The problem: Greek regions produce the surplus. Athens captures the spend. Recovery funding reaches Athens and Thessaloniki disproportionately. Municipal procurement defaults to large contractors and chains. Article 20 of Law 4412/2016 already permits reserved contracts for social cooperative enterprises, but the implementing presidential decree has never been issued. Nine years, no decree.

AURIO’s argument: Issue the Article 20 implementing decree, converting the permission into a mandatory minimum quota scaled by contracting authority size. Redirect anchor procurement (universities, hospitals, municipalities) toward local cooperatives, on the Preston model. Support worker succession buyouts under Law 4738/2020 and develop a regional cooperative bank using existing ESPA and LEADER mechanisms. Build. Own. Stay.

Pillar 4: Direct Democracy

Available funding: No dedicated budget needed.

The problem: Direct democratic institutions are governance reforms, not spending items. Greek municipal budgets exist; the question is who decides how they are spent. No Greek legislation currently mandates participatory budgeting, citizens’ assemblies or open governance standards.

AURIO’s argument: Legislate direct democratic institutions in every Greek municipality. Citizens’ assemblies, participatory budgeting and open governance. Allocate 10% of discretionary municipal budgets to direct citizen decision making. Administrative cost is minimal. Porto Alegre demonstrated this in 1989. Over 7,000 cities worldwide now use it.

Pillar 5: Education as Liberation

Available funding: €6.7 billion education budget. €7.8 billion digital transformation (RRF). ESPA social and education components.

The problem: Education is being cut 10% (€700 million reduction over 2026-2029). Greek teachers earn 31% less than other tertiary-educated workers, the worst gap in the OECD. Finland spends a similar percentage of GDP on education but achieves radically better outcomes.

AURIO’s argument: This is a reallocation argument, not a new spending argument. Reduce standardised testing (saves money). Invest in teacher training and status (reallocate within existing budget). Use digital transformation funding for craft-based training programmes delivered by SMEs in communities.

Pillar 6: Border Region Justice

Available funding: €1.6 billion migration and border funds (AMIF + BMVI). Interreg cross-border programmes. ESPA regional components. LNG terminal revenue.

The problem: Almost all EU border funding goes to security infrastructure (surveillance, detention, fencing), not community economic development. Evros hosts an LNG terminal supplying nine countries, a NATO logistics hub and migration infrastructure. The host community receives security spending and chronic underinvestment in everything else.

AURIO’s argument: Community benefit framework legislation. When a region provides Europe with a border, an energy gateway and a military platform, the host community receives proportionate investment in return. Redirect a share of border and migration funding from security hardware to local economic development. This is a legislative proposal, not a spending request.

Pillar 7: Culture as Infrastructure

Available funding: Culture ministry budget (small, exact figure not published). LEADER/CLLD. ESPA cultural and tourism components.

The problem: Culture is funded as an afterthought, not as economic infrastructure. Rural cultural programming receives almost nothing.

AURIO’s argument: Fund cultural programming from economic development budgets, not just the culture ministry. LEADER/CLLD can fund village cultural programmes. Municipal cultural programming creates economic activity through food, drink and accommodation spending that did not exist before. The return on investment is measurable.

Pillar 12: Social Security and Dignity

Available funding: €3.2 billion income support (existing permanent measure). ESPA social inclusion components. European Social Fund Plus (ESF+). Fiscal surplus (€8.1 billion in 2025, 52% above target).

The problem: Thirteen consecutive pension cuts between 2010 and 2018 destroyed retirement dignity. Youth are locked into precarious work with no pension accumulation. Roughly 25% of GDP operates informally, leaving millions without social protection. The memoranda ended years ago. The safety net has not been rebuilt.

AURIO’s argument: The fiscal space exists. Greece generates surpluses that exceed targets. This is a reallocation argument: minimum pension above the poverty line, universal child benefit, portable protections for non-standard workers, and a pilot municipal basic income. Every euro spent on social protection enables capability and reduces downstream costs in healthcare, housing and crisis intervention.

Pillar 11: Healthcare as a Commons

Available funding: €7.8 billion annual health budget. €1.486 billion RRP Health envelope already allocated. ESPA social and health components. EU4Health programme (€5.3 billion EU-wide, 2021-2027).

The problem: Healthcare is a constitutional right in Greece. The fakelaki says otherwise. 28.8% of all health spending leaves patients’ pockets as informal fakelaki, a regressive tax on the poor. 1.6 million Greeks are registered to a doctor with no clinical place. Rural municipalities lose doctors. Mental health receives less than 3% of the health budget. The money exists. The clinical relationship does not.

AURIO’s argument: This is a reallocation and systems argument, not a new spending argument. Reactivate the TOMY Network of Local Health Units across Greek regions, funded through the existing ESPA and RRP envelopes. Establish village practices on the Tudor Hart model: one continuing salaried GP, one nurse, and one community health worker per village, every adult on a systematic registry. Train a Community Health Worker (LYK) cadre at regional universities. Pass the ESY Charter Restoration to abolish informal payment by law. Mental health spending tripled to 9% of health budget. Every AURIO pillar is a health intervention: food sovereignty reduces chronic disease, community energy eliminates fuel poverty, culture reduces isolation.

Pillar 8: European Sovereignty / Foreign Policy

Available funding: Defence budget €7 billion (rising). €30 billion in arms procurement to 2036.

The problem: Greece spends more on defence as a share of GDP than almost any other EU member. The EU-Mercosur deal sacrifices Greek agricultural interests for German industrial exports. Military cooperation with Israel continues while international law is violated in Gaza.

AURIO’s argument: Push for EU strategic autonomy to reduce national defence burden over time. Oppose Mercosur. Adopt the Spain position on Gaza. These are policy positions, not spending items, but they have budget implications: reduced arms spending as EU defence integration progresses, protected agricultural revenue through trade policy.

The Core Argument

Greece does not lack money. It lacks political will to spend it differently.

Over €70 billion in EU funds are available this programming period. A national budget of €77 billion per year generates consistent surpluses. Defence spending rises while education and agriculture are cut.

AURIO’s programme is not a wish list. It is a reallocation argument. The money exists. The question is whether it serves communities or corporations, whether it builds villages or buys weapons, whether it funds cultural programming or surveillance infrastructure.

The budget is a statement of values. AURIO’s values are clear.

Sources

• Greece Draft Budgetary Plan 2026, Ministry of Economy and Finance (minfin.gov.gr)
• European Commission: Greece Recovery and Resilience Plan (greece20.gov.gr)
• European Commission: ESPA 2021-2027 Partnership Agreement for Greece
• European Commission: Greece CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027
• European Commission: Migration and Home Affairs, Financial Support to Greece
• EU Cohesion Data Portal (cohesiondata.ec.europa.eu)
• Greek City Times: Greece Budget 2026
• OECD: Government at a Glance 2025, Greece
• Eurydice: Education funding and teacher salaries, Greece
• REScoop: Energy Communities legislation tracker, Greece