A recent report published by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) reveals that the need for an investment measure specific to the wine sector is not justified, as such support already exists under the EU rural development policy. The auditors claim that the impact of EU investment and promotion support for the competitiveness of the wine sector was not clearly demonstrated and the money has not been used to expand new markets. The report also questions the role of EU grants for the promotion of wines, since they were often used for consolidating markets, rather than winning new markets or recovering old ones.

“The coexistence of similar investment measures under two different schemes is a source of complexity, which in some member states has resulted in implementing delays or in an excessively restrictive scope of the eligible investments,” Jan Kinšt, the ECA member responsible for the report, stated in a press release.

“Also, when the EU contribution incites enterprises to proportionally reduce their own funding for promotion actions, it becomes essentially a partial subsidy of these companies’ operational costs. This is not an efficient use of public money,” he added.

In the case of the promotion actions, although wine exports to third countries have significantly increased in absolute terms, the audit revealed that EU wines have lost market shares in the main third countries targeted by promotion actions and that exports of EU wines not eligible for support also increased.