Greece today: farm-aid applications now close on 30 October, inflation reached 5.1% in September, and the minister says the €400 for pensioners comes at the end of November

When is the new deadline for Greek farm-aid applications?

Farmers in Greece now have until Friday 30 October 2026 to file the 2026 Single Aid Application (Ενιαία Αίτηση Ενίσχυσης, ΕΑΕ, Eniaia Aitisi Enischysis, still often called ΟΣΔΕ), instead of 16 October 2026.¹ΕΛ²⁵ The extension comes from ΑΑΔΕ (Ανεξάρτητη Αρχή Δημοσίων Εσόδων, Anexartiti Archi Dimosion Esodon), the Independent Authority for Public Revenue, which is the tax authority and now also runs farm-aid payments.⁴ We could not open ΑΑΔΕ's website, so we rely on two outlets that reproduce its release of 12 October 2026.¹² ΑΑΔΕ says the changes followed a teleconference with the 700 authorised filing bodies on Friday 9 October 2026, attended by Agriculture Minister Margaritis Schinas (Μαργαρίτης Σχοινάς) and ΑΑΔΕ governor Giorgos Pitsilis (Γιώργος Πιτσιλής).¹²

The advance payment depends on when a farmer filed. ΑΑΔΕ decision Α.1184/2026, published in the Government Gazette (ΦΕΚ Β' 5583) on 15 September 2026, says an advance may be paid by 31 October 2026 to farmers who filed by 25 September 2026, and by 30 November 2026 to those filing from 26 September 2026 to the deadline.⁴ΕΛ Farmers who filed by 25 September 2026 and made changes by 10 October 2026 will have those changes counted for the 31 October advance, ΑΑΔΕ's release says, as reported.¹³ Farmers who file by 30 October 2026 and make changes by 10 November 2026 will have them counted for the 30 November advance.¹³

Later change deadlines, according to ΑΑΔΕ's release as reported, are 16 November 2026 for rural-development interventions, 11 January 2027 for eco-schemes, 31 January 2027 for public grazing land and 31 March 2027 for coupled income support.¹³ ΑΑΔΕ's FAQ of 3 September 2026 had given 31 March 2027 for eco-scheme changes.⁶ ΑΑΔΕ has also reset at 55% the minimum overlap between the area a farmer digitises and the land-registry parcels (ΚΑΕΚ, the cadastral code) they declare.¹²³

Giorgos Moulkiotis (Γιώργος Μουλκιώτης), a PASOK MP for Boeotia, asked the agriculture and finance ministers for an extension in a parliamentary question reported on 12 October 2026, after earlier warnings in July and September. He blamed the compulsory digital matching of plots with the land registry, applied for the first time this year.⁷

Correction: our 12 October brief said the cut-off for the 31 October advance was 15 September 2026, following ΑΑΔΕ's FAQ of 3 September 2026, and wrongly marked Workenter's 26 September date as an error. Decision Α.1184/2026, published on 15 September 2026, sets the cut-off at 25 September 2026.⁶⁴ΕΛ We have corrected that brief.

Greek inflation reached 5.1% in September, above the Bank of Greece's forecast for the year

Greek inflation on the harmonised index (HICP, the measure used to compare EU countries) rose to 5.1% in September 2026 from 3.7% in August, according to the Inflation Monitor that the Bank of Greece (Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος, Trapeza tis Ellados) published on 12 October 2026, as reported by several outlets.⁸⁹¹² We could not open the Bank's website, so these figures come from those reports. The euro-area rate was 3.8% in September 2026.⁸⁹ Services inflation rose to 6.4% from 4.5%, driven by hotels and air fares; energy inflation reached 25.4%; and core inflation, which excludes energy and food, rose to 4.6% from 3.8%.⁸⁹¹⁰

Greek HICP inflation averaged 3.8% from January to September 2026, the reports say.⁸¹¹¹² The Bank's 3.5% forecast for 2026 is the Eurosystem projection, based on data up to August, before September's 5.1%.⁸¹⁰¹¹ For the year to average 3.5%, October to December would need to average roughly 2.6%, by our calculation: 3.5 × 12 months minus 3.8 × 9 months, divided by 3.⁸ That is only a rough guide: it averages monthly rates, which approximates how the annual rate is measured, and rounding in the published figures alone puts the answer anywhere between about 2.3% and 3.0%, by our calculation.

The 2027 draft budget's estimate of 3.8% inflation for 2026 uses the national consumer price index (CPI), so it cannot be compared directly with the Bank's 3.5%.¹³ The draft's comparable figure is its estimate for the harmonised index (ΕνΔΤΚ, the Greek abbreviation for the HICP): an average of 3.6% in 2026, based on data to the end of August 2026, the same cut-off as the Bank's 3.5% projection.¹³ΕΛ⁸ We explain September's figures here and the budget's estimate here.

When will pensioners get the €400?

Labour Minister Niki Kerameus (Νίκη Κεραμέως) said on SKAI television on 12 October 2026 that the €400 will be paid "at the end of November", with no property or income limits, to all pensioners over 65 and to everyone over 60 who receives only a widow's pension, in our translation of her ministry's text.¹⁴ΕΛ¹⁵ The ministry's account describes it as a permanent annual payment every November.¹⁴¹⁵

Some outlets report that the €400 will come "with the December pensions"; the ministry's text does not use that phrase.¹⁶¹⁷¹⁴ The date of 27 November 2026, also in the press, is not an official date: Athens Voice derives it from the usual practice of crediting payments the working day before, and Powergame gives it without a source.¹⁶¹⁸ e-ΕΦΚΑ (Ηλεκτρονικός Εθνικός Φορέας Κοινωνικής Ασφάλισης, Ilektronikos Ethnikos Foreas Koinonikis Asfalisis), the national social-security fund, had not announced December pension dates by 12 October 2026.²⁰

The law in force, article 72 of law 5217/2025, still sets an annual payment of €300 with income and property limits.¹⁹ We found no tabled amendment raising it to €400 by 12 October 2026.¹⁹ We explain who qualifies here.

Heating-oil support measures due on Wednesday 14 October 2026

Greece's Ministry of National Economy and Finance (Υπουργείο Εθνικής Οικονομίας και Οικονομικών, Ypourgeio Ethnikis Oikonomias kai Oikonomikon) said on 12 October 2026 that the support measures for heating oil would be announced "on 14 October", in our translation.²¹ Deputy Finance Minister Dimitris Markopoulos (Δημήτρης Μαρκόπουλος) also told the annual meeting of the Panhellenic Federation of Fuel Station Owners in Piraeus that a forthcoming bill will give fuel-station owners a voucher of up to €3,000 towards upgrading their fuel input-output monitoring systems.²¹²²

The ministry's release of 12 October 2026 gives no heating-oil price, pump subsidy or heating-allowance figure, and none was on its website when we checked on the afternoon of 12 October 2026.²¹ We found no official source for the heating-oil figures circulating in the Greek press before the announcement, so we do not repeat them. Our heating-oil guide explains last winter's subsidy and allowance rules.