Pac, the funds for the promotion of wine in third countries are at risk

Very useful and indispensable, for the promotion of Italian wine in the world, the Ocm funds, in Italy, have always had a troubled life, in recent years, between controversy over the criteria for drawing up the rankings and, above all, for the delays, sometimes sensational, of their delivery. But now, there is the risk of losing them altogether in the process of revising the post-2020 CAP. The alarm was raised by the Alliance of Agri-food Cooperatives, which represents a sector that is worth more than half of Italian wine production.
“Let’s say a strong and clear no to any hypothesis of elimination of the measures to promote the wine sector to third countries currently funded by Europe through the funds of the CAP, as proposed by the Environment Committee of the European Parliament.
This would be a huge economic loss for one of the leading sectors of our agri-food industry which, also through these funds, has succeeded in recent years in reaching success across the border,” explains the Alliance, in the aftermath of the go-ahead to some amendments aimed at suppressing European funds to support investment by companies in promotion.
“In the 2014-2018 programming period, in Italy alone, almost 102 million euros have been allocated each year for the measure of promotion on third countries - remember the Cooperatives - for a total in 5 years of 509,985,000. Equal funds are those invested by companies, which finance the measure at 50%”.
According to the Alliance of Agri-food Cooperatives, the measures that are being tried to suppress “are of vital importance for our companies that in the face of the continuing decline in domestic consumption, are able to maintain their competitiveness by exporting their wines to foreign markets.
The data show that the measure has supported and helped the growth of exports of the entire sector: Italian wine exports rose from 3.5 billion euros in 2007 to 5.99 billion in 2017, with a growth of 71%. Not only that: Italian exports in value to non-EU countries have recorded an average growth of 63%, well above that of exports to European countries (+41%)”.
“The funds allocated by the EU for promotion, which are added to the funds invested by the companies themselves - continues the Alliance - have replaced the “artificial” aid to the market, allowing our excellence in wine to be established on world markets, often encouraging the opening of commercial outlets in new third countries.
That is why we will be firmly opposed to any legislative proposal to abolish them. It should also be noted that, as the organization goes on, the adoption of these amendments was motivated by arguments which go beyond economic and market aspects and which generally aim to make more efficient use of public money, which must be demonstrated.
We hope that when the dossier passes to the Agriculture Committee and then to the House of Parliament in plenary, the Members will be able, figures in hand, to defend a measure that has had positive effects and all demonstrable, blocking the amendments proposed by the Environment Committee, and thus avoiding a hard and unjustified impact on our sector.