Brussels, 19/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - Voluntary grubbing of 200,000 hectares of vineyard, the abolition of market management tools (distillation, private storage, export refunds), increased wine promotion, crisis management, the ban on vinification of must imported into the EU and blends of Community wines with other wines: - all these are part of the in-depth reform of the wine growing sector that the European Commission intends to carry out and that will be confirmed in its legislative proposal due on 4 July. The most marked innovation compared to last year's communication consists of making all vine-planted surface areas eligible for the single payment scheme to “give producers a high degree of flexibility and to ensure they are placed on an equal footing with other farmers”. Furthermore, the Commission grants priority to actions for the promotion of European wines in third countries and confirms its wish to ban the practice of adding sugar to wine for enrichment (chaptalisation).
According to a proposal likely to be adjusted after the latest decisions within its directorates-general, the Commission recommends a two-phase approach: 1) between 2008-2013, measures would be taken to improve competitiveness, restore market balance and help those who cannot compete to “leave the sector with dignity”; 2) from 1 January 2014 onwards planting of vines will be free in order to improve competitiveness thanks to the possibility given to member states to grant new planting rights. The different market tools would be discarded from the first year of reform implementation. The total Community budget devoted to this sector would not be reduced (€1.3 billion annually) but spent in a totally different manner. Finally, the Commission foresees €3 million annually for information campaigns within the EU in respect of European wines that have geographical indications. The main lines of the legislative proposal are:
National support programmes: The Commission intends to allocate a large part of Community funding to setting national envelopes to allow member states to improve their specific wine-growing situation. The overall budget allocated to this type of measures will range from €623 million in 2009, €863 million in 2010, €845 million in 2011, €851 million in 2012, €839 million in 2013, €837 million in 2014 and €830 million from 2015. In accordance with the project, each year at least €120 million should be devoted to the promotion of products in third countries. The total envelope would be shared out between the various wine-producing member states according to the three objective criteria, namely shares in area, production and historical expenditure.
Each member state will submit to the Commission a single five-year programme for support of the wine-producing sector. The first programmes should be passed on to the Commission by 30 April 2008 at the latest. Eligible measures would be: - new support for promotion in third countries; - the vineyard restructuring/conversion scheme; - new support for green harvest; - and new crisis management measures (insurance against natural disasters and administrative costs of setting up a sector-specific mutual fund).
Grubbing programmes: The Commission has returned to a more reasonable target of 200,000 hectares of vines for grubbing over five years (2009-2013), compared to the 400,000 hectares announced last year. It plans to earmark a Community budget of €430 million to this in 2009 (60,000 hectares), €287 million in 2010 (50,000 ha), €184 million in 2011 (40,000 ha), €110 million in 2012 (30,000 ha) and €59 million in 2013 (20,000 ha). The Commission hopes to leave it up to producers to decide whether or not to take up the grubbing programme. In order to encourage producers to do so, the amount of the grubbing premium would be large the first year (€7,174/ha in 2009) and a little less in the following years: €5,739/ha in 2010, €4,591/ha in 2011, €3,673/ha in 2012 and €2,938/ha in 2013. The land from which the vineyards have been pulled up (through grubbing) would be eligible for the single payment scheme with decoupled regional aid at a ceiling of €350/ha on average. In order to avoid problems in sensitive areas (intensive building in rural areas, large abandonment of the land), the member states would be able to limit the giving up of wine-growing in mountainous areas or the vineyards on hillsides.
Rural development: Rural development programmes give member states the possibility to finance various actions (early retirement, establishment of young farmers, vocational training, agro-environmental subsidies for maintaining the landscape, investment for improving infrastructures and for marketing, etc.). In order to give impetus to measures in favour of wine-producing regions, the Commission suggests transferring funding from the first pillar (direct subsidies and market support) to the second pillar (rural development) under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The amounts transferred would be €100 million in 2009, €150 million in 2010, €250 million in 2011, €300 million in 2012, €350 million in 2013 and up to €400 million as of 2014.
Planting rights: The ban on granting new planting rights would remain in place until 31 December 2013, when it will be totally lifted to improve the competitiveness of the sector. According to the proposal, liberalisation should allow successful producers to increase their production to recover former markets and gain new markets not only in the EU but also in third countries.
Illegal plantations: Producers that had carried out illegal planting before 1 September 1998 should come into line with the rules by paying a duty. If the situation has not been settled by 31 December 2009, producers would be under an obligation to pull up the illegal plantations in operation at their own cost. Failing to do so would make them liable to penalties. For illegal plantations after 1 September 1998, only the grubbing alternative would be retained with penalties for recalcitrant producers on a case-by-case basis.
Oenological practice: Except for aspects relating to enrichment and acidification of wine, the Commission hopes the Council will entrust it with the task of approving new oenological practices or modifying the existing practices. The Commission suggests prohibiting operators from using sugar to enrich wine and also from making wine from the over-pressing of grapes or must. It also recommends that the ban on imported must vinification should be maintained as well as the ban on blending Community wines with third country wines. The Commission will assess the oenological practices approved by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) before including them in Community law. It does not rule out keeping more restrictive rules for wines marketed in the EU.
Quality policy: Quality wines would be divided into two categories: those that have a protected geographical indication and those that have a protected designation of origin. Also, the Commission trusts that interprofessional organisations may be able to control and manage the quality of the wine produced in their territories. Control instruments would be strengthened, in particular for the production of “vin de cépage”.
On the subject of labelling, the Commission suggests simplifying the rules by establishing a single legal framework applicable to all the different categories of wine, including imported wines. These labelling rules would allow the variety of wine and the harvest year to be indicated without geographical indication status being given.