Strasbourg, 28/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - After no fewer than 20 months of negotiations, the European Union and the United States reached an agreement on trade in wine on 15 September, which the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mariann Fischer Boel, talked the European Parliament through in Strasbourg on 27 September. The Commissioner welcomes this agreement, which will allow the European Union and the United States to resolve their disputes, avoiding recourse to "official conflict settlement mechanisms", and believes that it will pave the way for "closer co-operation with the United States in the wine sector" (see EUROPE 9028).
Most of the MEPs gave a mixed reception to this agreement. Although it means that the United States and European Union explicitly recognise their respective wine denominations as appellations of origin, and this agreement will help to grease the wheels of trade, many of them felt that the negotiations should have gone further. Speaking through Anne Laperrouze, the ALDE group "welcomes this agreement", which avoids "the hefty certification procedure", but the French MEP pointed out that "the wine producers find this agreement lacking", particularly in terms of "protection for geographic indications and labels". "I don't want to Macdonald's wine", she said. In the view of Luis Manuel Capoulas Santos (PES, Portugal), "the conclusion of the agreement is very important", but we must not "neglect the protection of indications which are considered semi-generic in the United States". There are already plans in place for the American government to make a proposal to Congress to change the status of 17 European wine denominations which are considered semi-generic in the United States. This measure is set to coincide with the European Union's recognition of American wine-making practices currently authorised in the United States. Marie-Hélène Aubert (Greens/EFA) criticised the fact that the hemicycle was half empty when such an important debate was taking place. Jorgo Chatzimarkakis (ALDE, Germany), called on the Commission "to step up the protection of the intellectual property of wine producers" in its second round of negotiations. This agreement "is not ideal, but it is an important first step", he said.
Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel attempted to set the MEPs' minds at rest, pointing out that "the second round of negotiations will begin 90 days after the entry into force of the agreement". Amongst other things, this round will include discussions on the geographic indications, the issue of appellations of origin (including the future of the old semi-generic terms), the use of traditional expressions, wines with low alcoholic content, certification, wine-making practices and the creation of a joint committee to take care of problems related to wine.
The Spanish Socialists called on the European Commission to try to get more from the Americans. This first phase of the agreement is "insufficient", objected Mabel Salinas, who pointed out that the agreement had not yet been ratified by Congress. After the debate, several Italian MEPs also called on the EU to stand firm on this issue. Within the EPP-ED group, the UDC MEP Armando Dionisi stressed in a press release: this agreement is "of fundamental importance for Europe, and for Italy in particular. We are the number-one exporters of wine to the United States, and it is in our interest to have access to their market. But the Commission must not accept a second-rate agreement. The recognition of the wine-making practices of the United States, which allow the use of colours and additives, and even 7% of water, will not add any value to the quality of our wine". Speaking for the same group, Forza Italia MEP Francesco Musotto spoke out against the "casual use in the United States of the prestigious appellations of origin of European wines, including our Marsala". Within the PES group, Vincenzo Lavarra (Democratici di sinistra) also stressed the need to protect appellations of origin, and described the recognition "without limitations" of the wine-making practices of the United States as "dangerous": Italian producers, "who have always been committed to high-quality production", would be unfairly penalised, he said.