The requests of 113 mayors, 14 wine organizations and 34 cooperative wineries in Abruzzo have reached the Agriculture Commission of the Regional Council and, in a document, ask the Region “to speed up the programmed instruments amounting to approximately 9.8 million for subsidized loans, for the reduction of interest rates on existing mortgages and for non-repayable aid to companies that have suffered damage from downy mildew, and to seek new funds to deal with a dramatic situation”.
They also ask the “national government for compensation for the approximately 200 million euros in damages suffered with an allocation of resources of at least 80 million euros”.
The mayor of Tollo, Angelo Radica, also national president of the Città del Vino Association, underlined how “the Region and Government can and must do more to restore the winemakers damaged by the downy mildew calamity”. In particular, he asked the Region to bring the Abruzzo emergency case to Rome”. The president of the Abruzzo Wine Protection Consortium, Alessandro Nicodemi, highlighted how the Government has allocated 32 million euros at a national level for the blue crab in response to damage of 130 million while for downy mildew it allocated just 17 million against a damage of 1 billion.
Fabio Caravaggio, mayor of Rocca San Giovanni (Ch) explained how many “winemakers also practice tourist activities connected to agriculture. Wine tourism, nature trails through the vineyards, experiential visits to companies have now become a combination with viniculture. Therefore a further financial boost to the primary sector will also benefit the tertiary sector, in which many of our young people are investing”, he said.
Also speaking, underlining the urgency of interventions to support local companies and communities, were the mayor of Alanno (Pe), Oscar Pezzi; the mayor of Turin di Sangro (Ch), Nino Di Fonzo and the former mayor of Orsogna (Ch), Ernesto Salerni and the president of the Vinco winery, Luciano Di Labio.
“Unfortunately, from the representatives of the Abruzzo Region present – the mayors announced – we did not receive clear answers on the timing of the provision of the expected aid and no declaration of commitment of interest towards the national Government on the opening of the ’emergency case’ ‘Abruzzo, the most damaged region among the eight that have obtained the declaration of a state of calamity.”
“The Region is once again turning a deaf ear – thunders the leader of the PD group in the Regional Council, Silvio Paolucci -. This, despite the difficulties of the sector, in the midst of an economic and social crisis. The funds allocated, small compared to the requests and needs of the supply chain, must be strengthened as we had requested and as the representatives of the regional government had committed to doing. Instead, the financial commitments that we have proposed and which the center-right has reduced from the 12.5 million allocated in the budget remain on record , only 5 million remain covered, awaited for months by the beneficiaries; Fira loans of 5,000, 10,000 and 15,000 euros are also on hold, due to procedural delays incompatible with the needs of the productive world. Furthermore, only 230 of the approximately 700 companies have done so request will receive the loan, the others will instead have to wait for the Region to adopt the necessary measures for the use of the remaining 2.5 million euros expected for 2024”.
Then comes the declaration from the vice-president of the Region, with responsibility for Agriculture, Emanuele Imprudente, in the Cesarini area: “Two amendments approved today, unanimously, in the Regional Council in relation to the methods of implementing support for agricultural companies affected by downy mildew: the reduction of interest rates on loans disbursed, for an amount of two million five hundred thousand euros, and non-repayable contributions, for an amount of 5 million two hundred thousand euros, which will be disbursed directly by Agea, the National Agency for disbursements in Agriculture, to streamline bureaucratic procedures and halve the time for allocating funds”.
“In 2024 – he adds – we will allocate 2 million five hundred thousand euros to interventions to reduce interest rates on loans and 5 million two hundred thousand euros as a down payment to companies, to which we plan to add the other 7 million already hypothesized by the regional stability law. These the last funds will be distributed – concludes the vice-president of the Region – on the basis of a measure already developed, with the list of beneficiaries ready, improving the efficiency and speed in the disbursement of contributions”. June 13, 2024
MARIANO PELLICCIARO
@REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED
