On the initiative of Irène Tolleret (Renew Europe, France) and Juan Ignacio Zoido (EPP, Spain), who chair the wine, spirits and quality products intergroup in the European Parliament, a group of MEPs from several nationalities and political groups will next week call on the European Commission to set up a ‘compensation fund’ and to provide for exceptional measures to support all sectors targeted by US sanctions.
A letter to this effect, signed so far by 50 MEPs, will be sent in the middle of next week to the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski.
The European Commission has already announced measures in favour of wine-growers, but, according to the MEPs who signed the letter, further action should be planned in favour of all sectors suffering from the trade dispute in retaliation for European subsidies to Airbus (see EUROPE 12428/5).
According to MEPs, urgent measures are needed to help the sectors concerned to overcome the current situation and avoid a rapid deterioration in market conditions.
Given the dual Airbus/Boeing talks at the WTO, MEPs believe that a solution should be found to “completely exclude” the agri-food sector from the trade dispute.
The Commission is being asked to integrate this principle of ‘non-reversal’ for the agri-food sector.
Impact study. Furthermore, at a meeting with the European Federation of Origin Wines (EFOW) on 2 March in Brussels, Commissioner Wojciechowski said that the Commission wished to await the publication of an impact study, due in the next few weeks, before taking any decisions which would concern not only the wine sector but also other sectors (Italian cheeses and Spanish olive oil). All these sectors have been affected since 18 October 2019 by the increase in American customs duties (+25%).
EFOW, which is concerned about the US sanctions’ long-term consequences on the wine sector, believes that the Commission must intervene in order to allow companies to continue exporting to the United States and thus avoid a deep crisis.
The additional flexibility measures for wine sector promotion programmes proposed by the Commission and adopted in February by Member States and MEPs are considered insufficient to provide an effective response to the US tariff increase. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)