The European Commission adopted on Tuesday 7 July a package of new measures to support the wine sector, which has been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Following measures announced at the beginning of June (see EUROPE 12502/21), the institution now acts under Article 222 of the Regulation on the Common Market Organisation (CMO), which allows it to adopt temporary derogations, for a maximum period of 6 months, from certain EU competition rules when situations of serious market imbalances arise. Thus, operators in the sector will be allowed to plan joint promotion activities, organise storage by private operators and plan production jointly.
In addition, the EU contribution is increased for all measures in the national support programmes to 70% to provide financial relief to beneficiaries. In addition, the Commission authorises Member States to make advance payments to operators for ongoing distillation and crisis storage operations, up to 100% of the costs.
The fruit and vegetable sector will also benefit from an increase in the EU contribution (from 50 to 70%) for programmes run by producer organisations. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)