Brussels, 18/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - The EU high-level group on wine, which begins work on Thursday 19 April, will discuss the contentious issue of vine planting rights. The group was set up on the initiative of Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos in reaction to the call from 15 member states for planting rights to be extended beyond 2015. These countries hold the view that liberalisation could lead to over-production which would effect prices, encourage the growth of large groups to the cost of small producers and lead to industrial production that would be damaging to quality.
The high-level group (made up of representatives from the member states, the Commission, with the involvement of some representatives of the sector) will look at how planting rights operate in the various EU countries and assess its impact on the wine sector and on wine producers. It will assess the potential impact of ending the planting rights system. The group is expected to meet four times and will submit its recommendations to the commissioner before the end of the year. The Commission points out that ending planting rights is one of the points in the 2008 package on the reform of the common organisation of the wine market. Member states are calling for the planting rights system to be extended in time but there are other matters linked to this issue, it is being made clear at the Commission, which expects clear options to be tabled by the high-level group so that a proposal can be drafted and negotiated in parallel with the reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP).
The fate of wine planting rights is a highly controversial issue in the EU. In the Agriculture Council, support for retention of the rights has now garnered 222 votes, still 33 short of what is needed for a qualified majority. The countries which are against liberalisation of planting rights are Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Austria, Romania, Luxembourg, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Greece, Slovenia and Bulgaria. Under the European Commission proposal the system will be ended from 1 January 2016 (while allowing those countries which wish to retain the system until 31 December 2018).
The 2008 reform also brought an end to aid for distillation, put in place a voluntary grubbing-up scheme (165,000 hectares of vineyards dug up), facilitated adoption of new wine-making practices, improved labelling rules and retained the practice of chaptalisation (adding sugar). (LC/transl.rt)