Brussels, 31/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - The president, Jean-Paul Bachy, and vice-president, Aly Leonardy, of AREV, the Assembly of European Wine-growing Regions, are organising a meeting of the presidents and vice-presidents, ministers, assessors and councillors of the 71 regions and länder which are members of AREV to demonstrate the depth of opposition to the ending of the plantation rights which they feel are crucial to the wellbeing of regional economies.
On 21 September, Bachy was invited to deliver a presentation at the meeting of the high-level group on wine on the scientific report on the socio-economic and territorial impact of liberalising plantation rights. “The risks that are clearly identified in the report are considerable”, says AREV in a press release. The Commission representatives leading the high-level group have “manifestly sought to ignore the position of AREV which, like most of the members of the European Parliament and the Committee of the Regions, is opposed to ending plantation rights”, AREV goes on.
Bachy and Leonardy had been hoping for much from this dialogue but the recent proposal by the director general for agriculture at the Commission (that there should be liberalisation for wines which do not have a geographical indication) “clearly runs counter to all the positions expressed over the last number of months by virtually all those involved” (see EUROPE 10695). AREV says that this is indicative of either deep misunderstanding of how the market operates or the hidden desire to continue with the total deregulation begun by the previous commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel. Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos has recently (see EUROPE 10703) come out in favour of regulation of planting rights for all categories of wine (PDO, PGI and wines with no geographical indication).
In order to ensure that Commissioner Ciolos is aware of its position and realises his responsibility before the final meeting of the high-level group (which will take place on 14 December rather than 23 November as originally planned), Bachy has decided to call a meeting of elected and sector representatives of the 71 regions and länder that are members of AREV in Brussels (http://www.arev.org ). (LC/transl.fl)