In an exchange of views with members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture on Monday 26 October, representatives of the wine sector spoke about the difficulties arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We need a multi-year recovery plan for viticulture”, said Thierry Coste, from the General Committee for Agricultural Cooperation (Cogeca). He referred to “medium-term health opacity, economic opacity and political opacity” (Brexit, US taxes...). He said he was convinced “that a better future awaits us: the harvest is rather good, as is the quality”. He regretted that “not everyone was able to benefit from the Commission’s market measures”. He called for the market measures (private storage, crisis distillation) to be extended and for wine producers to receive funds from the Recovery Plan (total of €8 billion).
Ignacio Sánchez Recarte, Secretary General of the European Wine Companies Committee (CEEV), noted different effects of the pandemic on different wines (sparkling wine sales, for example, have lost 30% in value).
Daniela Zandona, from the European Federation of Origin Wines (EFOW), encouraged the institutions to work on a “real agricultural crisis budget”. There should be flexibility in the way supports are implemented. She regretted the lack of new funds to deal with the crisis.
Irène Tolleret (Renew Europe, France) welcomed the Commission’s announcement to extend market measures for the sector, but criticised the prospect of a 3.9% cut in sectoral programmes, such as wine, under the proposals negotiated on the post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).
“We save on wine in times of lean cows”, noted Herbert Dorfmann (EPP, Italy). He wondered whether the production potential should not be temporarily reduced. Paolo De Castro (S&D, Italy) stressed the importance of promotional actions. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)