The Association of Winegrowers and Winemakers of Ukraine demands from Ukrainian authorities to pay the debt of the national budget as compensations for the development of viticulture, horticulture and hop-growing, totaling some UAH 400 million in 2012, Vice President of the Association, Viacheslav Ponomarev, said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.

"The program had been working for 12 years, and in 2012 a failure of the program is seen," he said.

Ponomarev said that on December 18, 2012 the association held a rally near the government building with the requirement to pay the debt and retain the current procedure for the sector development fee administration in part of sending it to the special fund of the national budget, while the budget for 2013 foresees its transfer to the general fund. The national budget for 2013 allocates only UAH 100 million for planting new gardens and vineyards, which will not cover expenses of the sector, the vice president added.

The director of the association, Serhiy Mykhailechko said that according to an official response of the State Treasury Service of Ukraine, as of October 1, 2012, UAH 899.649 million was registered on the special account accumulating the sector development fee and the money from the account cannot be used for other purposes.

"We've applied to the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine asking to check this and open criminal cases if the funds were used for other purposes," he said.

Mykhailechko also said that after the rally, representatives of the Finance Ministry assured rally participants that the debt will be paid and they said that the relevant orders have been signed.

"Let's hope that this is true. We've agreed that another meeting will be held on Friday," Mykhailechko said.

As reported, nongovernmental organizations uniting the winemaking companies of Ukraine have asked the country's authorities to retain a 1.5% fee used for the development of viticulture, horticulture and hop-growing in the national budget for 2013.

The address was sent to the Ukrainian president, prime minister and speaker.

Winemakers said the sending of the fee to the general fund would cause a raw materials crisis in the sector. They said that in the period of the functioning of the fee since 1999, 44,600 hectares of vineyards and 45,800 hectares of gardens had been planted. According to information of nongovernmental organizations, in 2012 the campaign on planting new vineyards failed to take place due to the non-payment of compensation taken from funds obtained from the fee.