Question by Ioannis Gklavakis (EPP-DE, EL) to the Commission on amendment of the CMO in wine

On 4 July 2007 the Commission unveiled a proposal for a Council regulation on the common organisation of the market in wine (COM(2007)0372). Funds for the 'national envelopes' are allocated according to a key which is based to 50% on the historical input of Member States, 25% on area and 25% on production. Moreover, adjustments have been made in favour of certain Member States.

Will the Commission say which criteria were used in the selection of the specific allocation key and why the funds are not allocated on the basis of the historical payments of Member States over a representative reference period, as occurred in the case of all those CMOs which have so far been amended? Furthermore, given that the overall amount of resources is limited, how was it decided to adjust input for the benefit of some Member States, which necessarily results in a corresponding decrease for the others?