Brussels, 01/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - Greece has joined the group of 12 countries of the European Union which are opposed to the planned liberalisation of planting rights in the wine-making sector as of 1 January 2016, the European Federation of Origin Wines (EFOW) announced on Wednesday 30 November. “The European Commission cannot continue to turn a deaf ear when 13 member states representing 66% of the population and 97% of total EU wine production are asking it to reopen the debate”, said the chairman of EFOW, Riccardo Ricci Curbastro (our translation). “We want the European Parliament and Council to show openness and political courage and help us in our fight for planting rights under the CAP.”
Still 54 votes short. At the moment, according to EFOW calculations, there are still another 54 votes needed to obtain qualified majority against liberalisation in the wine sector at the Council of Ministers of the EU. The countries which have already announced their opposition to this measure are as follows (Germany (29 votes), France (29), Italy (27), Spain (27), Portugal (12), Hungary (12), Austria (10), Romania (14), Luxembourg (4), Cyprus (4), the Czech Republic (12), the Slovak Republic (7) and Greece (12). Three wine-producing member states have not yet taken position: Bulgaria (10), Slovenia (4) and Malta (4). Lastly, 11 countries are not wine producers: the United Kingdom (29 votes), Sweden (10), Poland (27), Lithuania (7), Latvia (4), Estonia (4), Belgium (12), Ireland (7), Finland (7), Denmark (7) and the Netherlands (13).
Copa-Cogeca welcomed the decision of the Greek government to join the 12 member states calling for planting rights to remain for all types of wine in the European wine-making sector and called on the other member states to get behind the initiative. In a speech in Brussels, Pekka Pesonen, secretary general of COPA Copa-Cogeca, said the planting rights in this sector “are of incredible importance for the economy of rural areas and help to maintain the balance of the European wine market”. Thierry Costed of Copa-Cogeca added that the professionals are concerned about the impact on the EU wine sector if planting rights were abolished. Liberalisation of planting rights would cause major changes to Europe's wine-growing areas. (LC/transl.fl)