Representatives of the EU Council, the European Parliament, and the European Commission will start negotiations on Wednesday 2 December on the Common Market Organisation (CMO) part of the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
They will start with the subjects of wine (planting authorisation, labelling, hybrid varieties) and quality policy. Two chapters on which the positions of Parliament and the EU Council are quite close.
For the rest of the provisions of the CMO Regulation, the Member States stuck to the Commission’s proposals, which consisted of a simple revision of the existing rules.
But Parliament, for its part, has introduced many new elements into the text. The more sensitive subjects (such as competition law, crisis management tools, etc.), on which the Member States have barely given their opinion, will be kept for later.
For planting authorisations, a compromise will have to be found between MEPs, who want an extension of the scheme until 2050, and Member States, who are asking for an extension of the system until 2040.
Concerning nutritional labelling, there is little debate: the indication of calories will be on the bottle and the list of ingredients can be left off. Hybrid grape varieties will be authorised for wines under appellation. Finally, as regards de-alcoholised wines, two categories of products should be introduced: totally de-alcoholised wines (alcohol content of less than 0.5°) and partially de-alcoholised wines (alcohol content between 0.5 and 8.5°). There is still a difference of opinion between the EU Council and Parliament on this second category: the former wants to create a toolbox in which producers will be able to use according to their needs, while the latter wants to exclude appellation wines from the scheme. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)