His term in OKAY was defended by the former vice-president of the organization (10/2015 to 11.2019) G. Apostolakis during his testimony to the parliamentary inquiry committee, which investigates the payment system for community agricultural subsidies. “We worked in the midst of memorandums and from the first days there was an issue with the organization’s reserves, and at some point we ran out of euros. I also remember when we used to run to the Hilton, at the then committee meetings, to save the subsidies, so that they are not considered as taxable income, which at the time, the “troika” insisted that they should be taxed”, said Mr. Apostolakis, noting that “we managed then for the subsidies related to rural development, that all amounts be exempted from taxation and are non-seizureable”.
For his problems OKAY during his tenure he stated that “there was constant surveillance by the Commission, but also cooperation with OLAF. It is not now, suddenly, that there are problems” and that “there are small and big frauds”. “But now the matter has escaped from what it seems” said Mr. Apostolakis.
Answering to the ND rapporteur M. Lazaridis, Mr. Apostolakis he said that “the problem under consideration is born, to a great extent, from the very architecture of the distribution of rights, which is “expansive””. He also expressed the opinion that grazing management plans “are not a panacea” as if, for example, in Macedonia 10 acres are required for a farmer to feed 100 sheep, in a dry area 100 acres may be required, which will prove unfair at subsidy time.
Moreover, he emphasized that “we had managed to put the payment schedules in order“, while he commented that “you can’t expect an organization to function by changing administrations every year”.