Meeting of representative wine institutions from Spain, France and Italy

The wine cooperatives and winemakers' associations of Spain, France and Italy are calling on the European Union for help... and moderation.
Meeting of representative wine institutions from Spain, France and Italy agree on the need for support due to successive crises and to show caution towards health trends.

Representatives of the three leading wine producing countries met for two days in Conegliano.

The seven plagues of Egypt hit the vineyards of Spain, France and Italy. "From 2019 to date, our three countries have had to face a series of unprecedented crises: American retaliation on European wines in the Boeing-Airbus conflict, the [Covid-19] pandemic with the subsequent closure of the catering sector, difficulties in finding markets in the post-pandemic period and the shortage of raw materials, the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine with its rising production costs, rising inflation, crises to which is added the increasingly evident impact of climate change." This was the list drawn up by the contact group of Spanish, French and Italian wine producers* that met on 13 and 14 September in Conegliano (Italian region of Veneto).
Addressing their governments and the European Commission, the wine organisations from France, Italy and Spain "warn of the risks to the economic and social sustainability of the wine sector" in the context of successive climate, economic and geopolitical crises. Calling for "compensation for the increase in energy costs" and "exceptional support and flexibility measures, similar to those put in place to deal with the complexity caused by the Covid-19 pandemic" (crisis distillation, storage aid, increased aid rates... but not grubbing up, which is a structural rather than short-term measure).

Prohibition
Another demand was that of Brussels' moderation in its health policies. Fearing a "new wave of 'prohibitionism'", European wine organisations said that "the coming months will be crucial as the European Commission will work on a number of important legislative initiatives: delegations have called for what the European Parliament expressed in the Commission's opinion on the European Cancer Plan last spring to be taken into account to focus on tackling alcohol abuse and avoiding disproportionate policies - such as the recent Irish rule - that harm communities and wine-growing regions, the intangible heritage of humanity, and the European art of living and gastronomic culture of which wine is an integral part. "
For these organisations, it is imperative to "maintain the promotion policy as a tool to ensure the competitiveness of wines", to "maintain the rules on nutrition labelling and ingredient lists already decided under the Common Agricultural Policy (PAC) regulations, including digital labelling" and "decided to ask Member States and the European Commission to oppose the Irish proposal on health warnings by submitting detailed

*: This group is composed of:

FNSEA - Commission Viticole, La Coopération agricole - Vignerons Coopérateurs de France (VCF), Vignerons Indépendants de France (VIF), d’Alleanza delle Cooperative Italiane Agroalimentari, Assoenologi, Confederazione Italiana Agricoltori, Coldiretti, Confagricoltura, Copagri, Federdoc, Federvini, Fivi et Unione Italiana Vini, de l’Asociación Empresarial Vinos de España (AEVE), Asociación de Jóvenes Agricultores (ASAJA), Cooperativas Agro-Alimentarias de España, Conferencia Española de Consejos Reguladores Vitivinícolas (CECRV), Coordinadora de Organizaciones de Agricultores y Ganaderos (COAG), Federación Española del Vino (FEV), Organización Interprofesional del Vino de España (OIVE) y la Unión de Pequeños Agricultores y Ganaderos (UPA).