Examination of Witnesses (Questions 380
- 381)
THURSDAY 8 MARCH 2007
MR ZOLTÁN SOMOGYI
Q380 Lord Bach:
I would also like to know what you think the criteria for the
funding should be from Europe. Should it be on a historical basis
based on what has happened in the last 10 years. Or should it
be on something slightly more objective and looking to the future?
Mr Somogyi: I have already indicated that our
two main priorities are restructuring and marketing. But, when
we are talking about spending money, obviously the main priority
is restructuring. As I told you, we would be happy to see crisis
distillation on the menu when choosing measures for these "national
envelopes". Some market measures should be included but,
as I told you, rural development should be left out from this
envelope.
Q381 Lord Bach:
Altogether?
Mr Somogyi: Yes. It is quite difficult to draw
a clear line of separation because, when we are talking about,
for example, the improvement of technology for wine-making, it
could be considered as development investment but also as a measure
specially dedicated to the wine sector, so these kinds of measures
should not be excluded from the envelope. Personally I do not
have a clear view of what exactly should be included. I hope that
you have found from my 50 minutes' intervention what are the main
priorities—restructuring, marketing and maybe I could find
some other things here. What I can tell you more clearly is an
answer to the second part of your question concerning the allocation
criteria. Somewhere in the Hungarian press some interesting criteria
were released, that some people have said that 80% of the allocation
should be based on previous spending from the Community budget
and 20% from the production area. We are against this approach.
I do not know whether you have already heard about this approach,
but hopefully not because we really do not like this approach.
The Hungarian request is that the allocation of "national
envelopes" should be based on production area over a certain
reference period. This position is quite understandable if you
look at the Hungarian point of view. I am not sure whether we
would be able to get it through. It will be our starting position
and we will see what happens.
Chairman: Well done. Thank you very much
indeed.
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