The association "Der VDP.Adler hilft e.V.", which is supported by the VDP, has collected more than 2.5 million euros in the past months to support the wineries affected by the flood disaster in the Ahr region. As the VDP reports in a press release, the aid association is currently working on a coordinated allocation of the donations. This is being done in close cooperation with the Ahr Winegrowers' Association, the Ahr-Wein e.V., the Ahr-Weinwerbung aid association, the Rhineland-Nassau Farmers' Association, the Schorlemer Foundation of the German Farmers' Association and the Farmers' Aid Fund. At the moment, "the first emergency aid possible on the basis of the disaster decree is already being paid out to identified damaged persons connected with viticulture, differentiated according to how they were affected".
The willingness of the wine industry to donate was "overwhelming". Now, however, the use of the donations "poses many unexpected legal hurdles for the tax authorities". "As a charitable non-profit association, the Ministry of Finance only provides for aid to private individuals and not to businesses, which brings with it intensive, not insurmountable challenges - but an enormous amount of effort," the VDP explained. The purpose of the association's donations, however, is to support winegrowing businesses in the Ahr region. In order to achieve this goal, "benevolent but complicated talks are currently being held with the politicians of the federal states of Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate".
It is already clear "that the processing - and thus also the issuing of donation receipts - will take some time".
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(uka / Source: Press release / Photo: VDP - Peter Bender)