CMO Promotion coming soon. Dates and news are in the draft (of which WineNews has a copy)

While Italy is experiencing a political stalemate that is causing heated discussions, it seems that something is happening for wine. WineNews has learned that it will be necessary to wait for the formation of a new Government for the nomination of the Wines Committee that supervises the changes to production regulations (more than 50 requests are waiting for responses), while in terms of promotion the national call for applications 2018-2019, from which regional ones will follow, should arrive in a few days. According to the draft circulating, and of which WineNews has a copy, the available resources amount to 27.599 million euros for the national quota (out of 101.9 for Italy, and the largest share is managed by the Regions, https://goo.gl/QbdVMV), and if this is the definitive text, deadlines have also been set. June 25th (at 3:00 pm) is the deadline for sending applications to the Ministry for funding projects based on the national quota, which may have a maximum duration of 12 months. This would mean, therefore, that the possibility for projects spanning more than one year, as had been admitted in the past, would disappear.
As far as regional projects are concerned, on the other hand, the Regions will have to send the Ministry and the agricultural payments agency, AGEA, the list of multiregional projects eligible for funding by July 31, 2018. Within August 2nd, then, the regions participating in multiregional projects will have to send the leader Regions clearance for co-financing. August 8th is the date by which the Regions must give the list of eligible regional projects for co-financing and the related documentation to the Ministry and Agea. August 8th is also the date by which, as established at the moment, the Ministry must send the list of eligible national projects to AGEA. And the last date is November 15th, the deadline by which AGEA must sign the contracts with the beneficiaries.
Timing for the projects to then be put in place will be very tight indeed, notwithstanding complications and postponements that recent history teaches, are not that improbable.
One of the aspects that without a doubt will be the most discussed, is the one currently provided for in paragraph 5, article 3 of the decree which would prevent presenting or participating in projects in third countries where actions had been carried out in the previous three years. This article would, in fact, welcome the restrictive interpretation of the European Commission to the question put forward by Spain a few months ago (see here https://goo.gl/RhuarW) on this aspect, which until today had been a priority criterion, not of exclusion, and this interpretation, according to some, would undermine the effectiveness of promotional activities that require a longer time to be really beneficial.
Among the new elements that can be read between the lines of the decree, the fact that the maximum contribution, both the proponent and the participant may request, must “correspond to the value of production of packaged wine suitable for promotion”, and paragraph 2 of Article 17, with which “the Ministry reserves the right, in any case and at any time, to suspend, interrupt, modify or cease this procedure, even in the event of total or partial unavailability of the funds available, without constituting a right or claim of any kind, indemnity or reimbursement of any costs incurred for participation in the same procedure”. This is written in the draft. Now we will have to see what will be maintained or modified in the final text of the notice, which, at this point, should be announced in the next few days.