Brussels, 17th December 2013 – The EU Wine companies have welcomed the approval of CAP reform at the Council of Ministers of Agriculture, which confirms and reinforces the orientations and tools of the 2008 Wine reform, aimed at improving the market-orientation and the competitiveness of the EU wine sector.
CEEV has welcomed the setting up of a new temporary framework for vine plantings that will replace the current plantings rights system and put an end to the former prohibitionist approach, thus confirming that liberty of planting remains the principle laid down in the CMO. The new scheme aims at allowing an orderly growth of the EU vineyard in order to match the dynamic market evolution, and calls explicitly MS to take into account the recommendations from the professionals. This new system will replace in 2016 the existing scheme of planting rights by individual non-transferable authorisations for new plantings allocated by the MS according to criteria that must be objective and non discriminatory.
“We regret the lack of ambition for EU wines shown by some Member States during the debates, as the annual growth limitation topped at 1% at EU level will not be enough to compensate the “natural” trend of vineyards reduction (without subsidised grubbing up), taking into account the structure and demographics of the wine sector that will accelerate this trend; the EU cannot just leave the markets to our competitors and limit itself to manage the decadence of the EU leadership in the global wine market” – declared Jean-Marie Barillère, President of CEEV. “Therefore we stress the Commission and Member States to ensure a flexible and market oriented implementation of these new rules, according to true objective economic criteria, taking into account the views of recognized and representative professional organisations insofar as they bring together wine producers and marketers – those who know better the markets on a daily basis“.
The CEEV also welcomes the inclusion of new eligible dynamic measures in the national support programs aimed at improving key aspects for the competitiveness of the EU wine companies – innovation, environmental sustainability and promotion in the internal market of moderate and responsible patterns of wine consumption. The reform also confirms the orientations and provisions agreed in the 2008 wine reform i.a. regarding labelling, and winemaking practices.
“We will follow carefully the definition of the implementing rules for these new possibilities so as to ensure that they deliver the objectives of improving further the market orientation and the competitiveness of the EU wine sector “- said José Ramon Fernandez, Secretary General of CEEV. “In this sense we hope that synergies with the reform of the horizontal promotion scheme will allow the EU to devote more efforts to efficient prevention of emerging market access barriers for the EU wine exports, and facilitate the sustainable opening of new markets worldwide for our EU wines”.
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Note to Editors
Comité Européen des Entreprises Vins (CEEV – www.ceev.eu) represents the wine companies in the industry and trade in the European Union: still wines, aromatised wines, sparkling wines, liqueur wines and other vine products. It brings together 24 national organisations. With more than 7.000 companies, mainly SMEs, and more than 200.000 direct jobs in the EU, its members produce and market the vast majority of quality European wines, with and without a geographical indication, and account for over 90% of European wine exports.
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