Greek MEP Urges EU to Cut Türkiye Funds Over Greece Threat Claims
By Bosphorus News Geopolitics Desk
Georgios Aftias, a Greek member of the European Parliament from the ruling Nea Demokratia party, told the Strasbourg plenary on April 28 that EU funds flowing to Türkiye should be cut on every day that Ankara threatens Greece. The statement was made during a one-minute floor slot in the debate on the interim report for the EU's 2028-2034 multiannual financial framework, the bloc's seven-year spending plan covering all major policy areas. It is recorded in the official European Parliament plenary minutes for April 28.
"You know that on a daily basis, Türkiye threatens Greece," Aftias said. "Every day that Türkiye threatens Greece, the money going to Türkiye will be cut." Aftias sits on the Parliament's Committee on Budgets and the Committee on Budgetary Control.
The remarks were not a formal amendment or legislative proposal. Their significance lies in the platform and the speaker: a Budget Committee member of Greece's ruling party, addressing the full European Parliament, linking Türkiye's bilateral conduct toward Greece to EU budget conditionality by name.
The EU funds in question flow primarily through the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance, known as IPA, which supports candidate countries in aligning with EU standards. Türkiye received 244.6 million euros under the 2023 annual programme and 211 million euros under the 2024 programme, covering areas including rule of law, environment, transport and rural development. A separate facility covering refugee support has channelled an additional six billion euros to Türkiye since 2016.
Nea Demokratia's Rhetoric on Türkiye
Aftias is not the first Nea Demokratia figure to draw attention with remarks targeting Türkiye in recent weeks. On April 7, Greek Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis, also of Nea Demokratia, triggered criticism across Greek media after making remarks targeting Turks during a live radio broadcast on Parapolitika 90.1. Georgiadis did not issue a retraction.
The two episodes sit inside a wider pattern of institutional pressure building against Türkiye in Brussels. In late March 2026, the European Parliament's Committee on Security and Defence voted 29 to 5 to exclude Türkiye from defence-related components of the next Horizon Europe research programme, on a motion by Cypriot MEP Costas Mavrides of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats.
On April 19, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen placed Türkiye alongside Russia and China in remarks about Europe's geopolitical environment. The Commission walked back the formulation within 24 hours, describing Türkiye as an "important partner." The reversal drew its own criticism from within European institutions: European Parliament Türkiye rapporteur Nacho Sánchez Amor described the original framing as "geopolitically flawed," arguing it undermines the EU's own security logic.
Ankara's Response
Earlier in April, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told the Antalya Diplomacy Forum on April 19 that Greece and Cyprus had "formed an alliance against Muslim countries in the region" through their defence cooperation with Israel. Both governments rejected the characterisation directly. Cyprus's Foreign Ministry said the claims "ignore the continued illegal occupation of Cyprus" and stated that "it is Türkiye itself that illegally occupies sovereign European territory, with tens of thousands of soldiers in an offensive posture." Greece's Foreign Ministry said Athens "neither suffers from complexes nor defines itself in reference to Türkiye."
Türkiye's National Defense Ministry issued a blunt warning to France and Greece on April 30 that military alignments directed against Ankara in the region have no chance of success. "Those who position themselves against Türkiye will not prevail," the ministry said.
The Arithmetic
The Aftias floor statement arrived in a week when Türkiye signed a strategic partnership framework with the United Kingdom in London, attended the Three Seas Initiative summit in Dubrovnik as a strategic partner for the first time, and held energy and connectivity talks with Austrian and European institutional figures in Vienna. The EU's accession process with Türkiye has been frozen since 2018. Trade, defence cooperation and infrastructure ties have expanded regardless. The week's diplomatic record makes a Budget Committee member's floor demand look less like policy and more like noise inside an institution whose operational relationship with Türkiye is moving in the opposite direction.
That gap has a cost beyond optics. Athens and Ankara have maintained a fragile but functional diplomatic dialogue since 2023. Remarks from government-aligned politicians that frame Türkiye as a daily aggressor feed a narrative that complicates that track. They do not produce policy. They do produce friction inside a bilateral channel that both sides have invested in keeping open.
***Sources: European Parliament official plenary minutes, April 28, 2026. European Parliament MEP profile, Georgios Aftias. Cyprus Mail, March 2026. European Commission IPA III documentation. Turkish Ministry of EU Affairs IPA data. Bosphorus News reporting.