AREPO welcomes the adoption of the consolidated text of the regulation for the information and promotion policy for agricultural products by the Commission of Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Parliament. The rapid agreement reached between the European Institutions, only five months after the submission of the proposal from the Commission, testifies the importance given to this policy in order to enhance and improve the competitiveness of European agriculture. The new regulation provides for a gradual increase in the resources available to 61 million planned for 2014 to 200 million in 2020.
The President of AREPO, Tiberio Rabboni, is pleased with the recognition of the importance of geographical indications. The proposal defines in fact the promotion of quality systems as a key priority in order to improve the knowledge of consumers about the characteristics of such products. In this regard, the opportunity to mention the origin of the products in the promotion campaigns has been introduced for the first time. Another important element welcomed by AREPO is the inclusion of producer organizations as beneficiaries of the promotion policy.
AREPO also recognizes the importance of the agreement reached in the trilogue. Thanks to the European Parliament's position, an improved and more balanced proposal has been approved. The possibility for the wine to independently access to funding for promotional programs and the financial contribution of the Union were the central points of the negotiation. The failure to reintroduce the co-financing of the Member States and the regions was partially offset by the increase in community funding raised to 70% in the case of simple programs on the domestic market and 80% for multi programs on the internal market and for all programs in third countries. The reduction of the financial burden on the final beneficiaries is a key element to ensure fair treatment to small and medium-sized enterprises.
