CEVI raises its deep concerns about the new proposal of the European Commission under the trilogue negotiations on the future Common Organisation of the Agricultural Market (CMO) regulation, which would aim at substantially modifying the current European Parliament and Council mandate with regard their proposal related to the annual growth for new vine plantings in Europe.
On 20 October 2020, the Council agreed on a common position as regards the different reports in the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform. 3 days later, the European Parliament also reached an agreement, providing both European legislators with a clear mandate for the trilogue negotiations. This mandate stresses on both side that, under article 63 of the CMO regulation proposal and regarding the authorisation for new vine plantings, “Member States shall make available each year authorisations for new plantings corresponding to either […] 1 % of the total area actually planted with vines in their territory […]; or […] 1 % of an area comprising the area actually planted with vines in their territory […]”.
This common sense proposal was called by a vast majority of the European wine stakeholders. It is already allowing a fitting and viable growth of vineyards in Europe, while avoiding potential disruptive impacts on the market in the future such as the overproduction. However, CEVI is worried about the proposal shared during the latest trilogue negotiations on the possibility of raising the annual growth for new vine plantings from 1% to 2% for 2031. The European Independent Winegrowers are opposed to this proposal: this would not only be detrimental for our sector that already faces severe difficulties with the current crisis caused by both the Covid-19 pandemic and the US tariffs on European wine, but it would also go against the mandates of the co-legislators that were negotiated in October 2020.
“This new proposal is completely incomprehensible. It goes against both the European Parliament and the Council’s mandates under the CAP reform, and flies in the face of our sector’s demands. The European executive has to stop exceeding its powers and should remain at its place, which deals here with easing the negotiations between the co-legislators and applying their decision, based on their respective mandate. We therefore simply ask negotiators to reject this proposal and we call on the Portuguese Presidency of the Council to keep its mandate as set out”, CEVI’s President Thomas Montagne declared.