Brussels, 21/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - EU agricultural ministers were unable, at their meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday 20 October, to secure a decision defining the stance to be adopted on behalf of the EU with regards to the resolutions to be discussed during the extraordinary general assembly of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV, French acronym). The OIV meeting is to be held on 28 November, when four draft resolutions on “dealcoholised wines” may be put to the vote.
In its proposal, the Commission suggests that there should be systematic coordination of the EU's position towards OIV draft resolutions that fall within the scope of EU competence, but 21 member states, who are not individually members of the OIV, have for several years refused to adopt a common position for points regarding EU competence. Those member states, which mainly group the major wine producing countries, consider that making the EU's position official is not politically desirable for now and could encourage the other OIV members to turn away from or even leave the organisation.
Dacian Ciolos, European Agriculture Commissioner, specified that the EU is not a member of the OIV and that the Commission does not intend to ask to become a member. However, he does affirm that the Council is “under an obligation to adopt the decision on the table” before the adoption, by the OIV, of resolutions affecting EU acquis, failing which no vote by EU countries at the OIV is legally possible. The failure to take such a decision could entail the risk of crippling OIV action, the Commission states. (LC/transl.jl)