On Tuesday 9 June, Janusz Wojciechowski, the European Commissioner for Agriculture, told the coordinators of the political groups in the European Parliament Committee on Agriculture that, “before the summer”, he would be presenting a new delegated act containing measures to provide additional support to the European wine sector, which has been affected both by the crisis linked to the coronavirus pandemic and by the punitive customs duties imposed by the United States following the Airbus dispute.
MEPs were threatening to oppose final adoption of a delegated act dealing with national programmes for the fruit and vegetable and wine sectors, which is part of the emergency aid package for agriculture announced in April, if the European Commission did not propose strengthening the scheme for the wine sector (see EUROPE 12501/9).
The new provisions promised by Wojciechowski should make it possible to increase cofinancing rates for promotion, green harvesting and restructuring measures, extend the 2020 vine planting period until July 2021, and trigger the crisis cartel measure that will allow operators to agree on quality requirements and joint promotion, said Anne Sander (EPP, France), the European Parliament negotiator on common market organisation for agriculture.
She even hoped that further progress could be made with promoting wine tourism and on flexibilities in labelling the 2020 vintage.