As the High Level Group for the EU wine sector met for the first time on Wednesday 11 September (see EUROPE 13449/2), several European organisations taking part were ambitious about the results to be expected from this work.
The President of the European Federation of Origin Wines (EFOW), Ricci Curbastro, presented participants with ideas for making the sector more competitive and resilient: targeted and conditional market interventions (to support operators in difficulty); vineyard management (strengthening the system of planting authorisations); market diversification (improving promotional tools and diversification efforts to boost competitiveness and open up new business opportunities); promoting sustainability (environmental protection and social responsibility); labelling (ensuring accurate labelling to protect transparency and maintain consumer confidence).
For the Comité Européen des Entreprises Vins (CEEV), the priorities are as follows: rationalisation of CAP strategic plans (simplification of administrative procedures, particularly for promotion and communication measures); updating the provisions of the common market organisation (CMO) Regulation, including labelling rules; simplification of EU e-commerce rules; regulations on dealcoholised wine products (comprehensive legal framework for the production and labelling of dealcoholised and partially dealcoholised wine products); introduction of EU sustainability guidelines; improving market access (to stimulate exports and eliminate technical barriers to trade).
The proposals put forward by the Assembly of European Wine Regions (AREV) include strengthening existing risk management policies and tools, while taking into account the specificities of production systems such as sloping vineyards. AREV is also in favour of innovation (new types of wine, precision viticulture and the use of drones, new genomic techniques).
The association also believes that environmental regulations should be “realistic and balanced”. Efforts should also be stepped up to promote domestic consumption and wine exports (simplifying access to wine promotion programmes).
Recommendations from the High Level Group on Wine are expected around the beginning of 2025. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)