Brussels, 10/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - The Slovenian agriculture minister has told AREV (Assembly of European Wine-growing Regions) that his country has joined with the group of countries working for the retention of planting rights in the wine sector. Slovenia, then, has joined the member states which oppose the liberalisation of planting rights, planned by the European Commission for 2015. Recently, EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos decided to set up a high level working group on winemaking to examine the issue of planting rights. He has asked for this group to submit is findings to him before the end of the year.
With Slovenia joining Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Romania, Greece, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, Luxembourg and Cyprus, there are now 14 member states, representing a total of 205 votes in the Council, which are calling for a review of this aspect of the 2008 reform of the common market organisation (CMO). They oppose the ending of plantation rights in 2015. AREV says that now “only 40 more votes are required to reach the qualified majority necessary to force the Commission to bring forward an initiative on plantation rights as part of the reform of the common agricultural policy”. AREV President Jean-Paul Bachy is still awaiting responses from three wine producing countries: Belgium (12 votes), Bulgaria (10) and Poland (27).
In constructive spirit, AREV will make available the conclusions, expected by the start of March, of a scientific study which it commissioned in spring 2011 on the socio-economic and territorial effects of liberalisation of planting rights. Working from available data, conducted and updated market analyses, specialist published studies and the views of various experts, this study, without losing sight of what is at stake in terms of worldwide competition, takes account of the social, economic, environmental and landscape costs of such a move. (LC/transl.rt)