Brussels, 04/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 3 October, EFOW (the European Federation of Origin Wines) congratulated European Commissioner for Agriculture Dacian Ciolos on his remarks the previous day favouring the regulation of plantation rights for all categories of wine (PDO/IGP/wines without geographical indication). “The concerns that had arisen after the last working session in Palermo on 21 September at the last high level group (HLG) are beginning to fade”, said EFOW president, Riccardo Ricci Curbastro.
At the 2012 congress of European farmers in Budapest (Hungary), Ciolos spoke of a regulation on all categories including wines without geographical indication (like table wines). “This is an improvement compared to the last meeting of the HLG on planting rights, during which the Commission advocated the liberalisation of planting rights for wines without a geographical indication. EFOW welcomes this step forward and hopes it will result in a concrete proposal. EFOW recalls that there can be no regulation without a European framework”, the EFOW press release says.
EFOW approves the main points defended by Ciolos, especially the management of plantations for all types of wine and a national management. Nonetheless, EFOW considers that the regulation cannot rely on a single European safety net. “The implementation of a safety net in case of excessive plantations would be ineffective since the intervention would come too late. We need an upstream management system given that vine is a perennial plant that produces wine for decades”, Curbastro says. According to EFOW, only a European framework (and not just a national one) of plantations in accordance with market needs will maintain a balance between supply and demand and will avoid an oversupply with all the consequences that this entails. (The EU has recently spent more than €1 billion for the grubbing up of vineyards.) (LC/transl.fl)