• With the current criteria, it would only correspond to a maximum of 300,000 euros out of a total of 90 million
The Popular Parliamentary Group has presented a parliamentary initiative in Congress in which it ensures that the Government harms Galicia in the recently approved package of measures for the wine sector due to the coronavirus crisis, for which it requires a rectification that takes into account the reality of each Autonomous Community. With the current criteria, Galicia could receive a maximum of 300,000 euros out of a total of 90 million euros in aid, according to the complaint by the PP.
In the explanatory memorandum of the initiative, the Popular Group recalls that at the Council of Ministers of June 9, on the proposal of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, a package of extraordinary measures was approved for the wine sector, amounting to of 90.5 million euros, with the aim of alleviating the difficult situation that the sector is going through due to COVID-19.
The truth is that, for the Xunta de Galicia, these aids approved by the Government do not serve at all for the Galician wine sector nor do they adapt to their reality, so they will have no or little impact in said Community. They are aids decided by the Ministry without taking into account the autonomies when designing and applying lines of aid and regulations, given that the reality of each of them is different. Such is the case of these aids to wine, because the criteria used by the Ministry do not apply to the Galician sector.
Thus, applying the aforementioned criteria, the GPP reiterates that Galicia could benefit, at most, from a contribution of 300,000 euros out of a total of 90 million for the whole of Spain. Something especially serious considering, in addition, that Galician wines with designation of origin generate around 6% of the added value of these productions nationwide, representing more than 5 million euros.
THE GOVERNMENT HAS GIVEN OFF THE GALICIAN SPECIFICITIES
The socialist government proposes extraordinary aid without taking into account the specificities of the Galician farms, in this case of its more than 13,400 winegrowers and 479 wineries. For this reason, it is noted, as regards distillation aid, that Galician wines with designation of origin have a price position in the comparative of medium or medium-high type, which invalidates this initiative in the Community, compared to other areas Spain with large areas of cultivation and low grape prices in which it is recognized that it can be effective.
Regarding the green harvest, this measure is not adapted to the characteristics of Galicia nor is it applicable in its viticulture, since it would only be the object of this practice on minimum areas of 0.3 hectares, when the average for Galician vineyards is 0.250 hectares. Likewise, another nonsense is incorporated with the obligation established by the Ministry that the regulatory councils have to reduce production in this same harvest, decreasing the maximum yields per hectare for winemaking.
For all these reasons, the Deputy Secretary General of the PP Jaime de Olano, the deputy spokesperson for the Marta González Group, the spokesperson for Agriculture Milagros Marcos, the second vice-president of the Congress Ana Pastor and the deputies Ana Vázquez, Celso Delgado, Pilar Ramallo, Javier Bas, Diego Gago, Joaquín García, Tristana Moraleja and Valentina Martínez add this question: Will the Government rectify the criteria for accessing the measures approved by the Council of Ministers on June 9 and which harm the Autonomous Community of Galicia, guiding them towards policies to promote the consumption of wine and in favor of its commercialization, as well as others properly oriented to the specificities of the Galician sector?
