Wine appellations from several EU countries reiterated their criticism of the proposal to revise the EU’s geographical indications on Tuesday 5 July in Strasbourg, arguing that it would sever the link with the Common Agricultural Policy by giving more powers to the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).
The European Federation of Origin Wines (EFOW), the German Winegrowers’ Association (DWV) and MEPs Paolo De Castro (S&D, Italy), Alvaro Amaro (EPP, Spain), Irène Tolleret (Renew Europe, France), Adrián Vázquez Lázara (Renew Europe, Spain) and Claude Gruffat (Greens/EFA, France) organised a seminar in Strasbourg to debate the review of the geographical indications (GI) policy. On this occasion, the experts of Arcadia International presented a study (https://aeur.eu/f/2hm ) on sustainability in wine appellations.
Wine appellations from France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Portugal were represented in Strasbourg.
EFOW President Bernard Farges said that the aim of the reform should be to “strengthen the appellation system, not weaken it”. Designations should not be considered as a mere intellectual property right and the EU’s quality policy “is an integral part of the CAP”, he argued. Therefore, the European Commission, and more specifically DG Agriculture, “must remain at the heart of the management of our terms of reference. To enable the institution to perform better and to fulfil this mission, we need to think about how to reduce the workload. This can be done by introducing more subsidiarity in the management of terms of reference”, suggested Mr Farges.
Several EU Agriculture Ministers are also concerned about the effects of such a delegation of powers to the EUIPO (see EUROPE 12970/2). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)