A coalition of grape growers, farm groups and major wine-producing countries appear to have won a postponement by the European Commission on the liberalisation of vine-planting rights that are due to expire by 2016.
A special advisory group ruled in December that it should be postponed for six years although this still has to be approved by the European Parliament before it can come into effect.
Recommendations agreed by the special advisory group follow nine months of discussions on the fate of the EU’s common market organisation, or CMO, that for years has allowed government intervention to prevent a glut of grapes grown for wine.
Vine growers from across European vineyards argued that it would make the wine industry less competitive and lead to catastrophic results for the historical and cultural nature of Europe’s vineyards. Some believed that it would lead to contamination of the classified zones of origins. But the European Commission had argued that removing planting rights would have the opposite effect, enabling other producers to respond more freely to market conditions. The panel also called for giving national authorities flexibility in authorising new vine plantings for all wine categories, so long as they are within an agreed EU-wide limit.
The head of The European Federation of Origin Wines said the proposal “will not only support and reinforce the sustainable development of our sector in terms of market potential but, furthermore, it will maintain fair competition between member states”.
The chair of the wine working group of Copa-Cogeca, which represents European farmers and agricultural cooperatives, called the recommendations “an improvement on the political decision to phase out planting rights in the wine sector made in 2008”.
The recommendations of the working group must still be approved by Parliament and national governments in the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy whose 2013 (and beyond) proposals are currently on hold, pending approval of the EU’s long-term Budget.