Strasbourg, 12/12/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 12 December, the European Parliament met very little opposition in its adoption of its consultative opinion on the proposed reform of the common market organisation (CMO) for wine. In its adoption, by 497 votes in favour, 109 against and 89 abstentions, of the report by Giuseppe Castiglione (EPP-ED, Italy), the Parliament made considerable changes to the initial proposal, in order to: - put a stop to the automatic liberalisation of planting rights; - reduce the duration for the vine grubbing plan; - keep in place the technique for wine enrichment by adding sugar (and, at the same time, keeping in place must aid); - reinforce promotion; - extend the catalogue of measures which can be funded by national credit envelopes; - and, lastly, to reinforce the rules on appellations of origin and the labelling of wines. With just a few exceptions, the EP went along with the recommendation of its Parliamentary committee on agriculture. The agriculture ministers of the member states are likely to take inspiration from the suggestions of the EP during their final negotiations, to take place from 17-19 December, with a view to a political agreement on this dossier.
Planting rights. The EP is opposed to total liberalisation from 1 January 2014 for wines protected by appellations of origin and geographical indications. For all other wines, it takes the view that the decision to liberalise should be taken in the light of a study to be carried out no later than the end of 2012. According to one amendment, restrictions on planting rights should not apply to member states with production levels less than 50,000 hectolitres.
Vine grubbing. The EP has reduced from five years to three the duration of the grubbing programme, with funding envelopes for this purpose: €510 million for the marketing year 2009/2010; €337 million in 2010/2011 and €223 million in 2011/2012. Provisions have been put on the table to provide incentives for the member states not to use the lifting regime in areas threatened by soil erosion.
Chaptalisation/must aid. The EP has removed the articles which aim to ban chaptalisation (the practice of adding sugar to increase alcohol content) and, in parallel, to get rid of must aid. By way of a compromise, the EP has suggested the possibility of gradually reducing the limits on increasing the alcoholic strength by volume. The addition of sucrose can be done only by dry sugaring or chaptalisation, and only in wine-producing regions in which this is a traditional practice, according to the amendments.
Potable spirits. The MEPs chose to keep in place aid for the distillation of potable spirits (which can be granted under national envelopes) to improve the quality of production.
Crisis prevention. As a replacement for the current crisis distillation aid, which is to be removed, the EP brought in aid in the form of proportional payment for the reduction of quantities of grape or wine produced.
Compulsory distillation. The amendments keep in place the obligation for the distillation of all by-products of winemaking. Only the distillers will benefit from aid for this service (thus leading to a considerable reduction in Community intervention). The alcohol obtained from this distillation may under no circumstances be used for human consumption.
Appellations. The production (including processing, making and, if applicable, refining and bottling) of wines with a geographical appellation or indication should be localised in the geographical areas concerned, the Parliament argues.
Labelling. The EP has rejected the provisions put forward by the Commission, which aim to allow the optional indication of the vintage year and wine grape variety and other traditional details included on the labelling of table wines. The MEPs take the view that this information should be reserved exclusively for quality wines. However, the EP is calling for all bottles to include the name of the bottler (merchant, cooperative or independent winegrower). Furthermore, the EP has kept in place the right to apply commercial denominations such as “fruit wine”, “apple wine” or “red currant wine”.
Wine-making practices. A positive list of authorised wine-making practices is to be drawn up.
National envelopes. The range of measures which can receive funding from the national envelopes has been extended (crisis prevention, private storage of wine, alcohol and musts).
Rural development. The EP has rejected the gradual transfer under the heading of rural development of funds previously devoted to the CMO for wine. Lastly, the EP postponed until 1 August 2009 the date for the entry into force of the new regulation on the wine CMO. Initially, the Commission had proposed the date of 1 August 2008, which the MEPs felt was “unfeasible”.
The EU is the world's largest wine producer, with more than 45% of total area (3.4 million hectares) and 60% of production (nearly 180 million hl on average over the last five years). It is also the world's largest consumer (60% of world consumption), its largest importer (12 million hl in 2005) and its largest exporter (13 million hl in 2005). However, the consumption of wine in the European Union is falling by around 750,000 litres every year. (L.C.)