Speaking at the wine fair Intervitis (Stuttgart) on the 24th of March, the German Chancellor – Angela Merkel – gave a long speech in which she expressed her strong commitment and support to the wine industry[1]. On that occasion, she stressed the fact that the German government would back planting rights. EFOW[2] welcomes the position of the German Chancellor.
On the 24th of March, at the wine fair Intervitis, Angela Merkel gave a speech in which she took a strong position in favour of European wines. The German Chancellor more precisely underscored that the “we highly support as Federal government the maintaining of planting rights“. The German head of state is the first European leader to take an official stance in favour of maintaining the planting rights. For Riccardo Ricci Curbastro, President of EFOW: “we welcome the posture taken by Mrs Merkel. We believe that a strong signal is being sent since Germany is one of the founding members of the EU and of the CAP“.
The speech of the German Chancellor took place at the same time as the first vote of the European Parliament in favour of establishing tools enabling quality products to manage their production. “In a symbolic way, Angela Merkel has made her speech on the launching date of the European Federation of Origin Wines – EFOW – for which the issue of the management of production is very important” underlined Riccardo Ricci Curbastro.
The representatives of European origin wines, members of EFOW, are now waiting for other European leaders to take position on the issue of the management of production. Riccardo Ricci Curbastro insisted on the fact that “Mrs. Merkel’s speech in favour of planting rights is exemplary. It is surprising that the first state to position itself on the management of production is Germany and not Italy, France or Spain. MEPs support the regulation of production, but the Commission remains silent. We are now waiting for European leaders to commit themselves and take a stand in favour of tools enabling the management of production in the viticulture field“.
It is essential to recall that EFOW has asked for production management tools to be introduced in the wine sector in the framework of the reform of the quality policy and of the CAP. “The liberalization of planting rights put forth by the European Commission, and scheduled to enter into force on the 1st of January 2016, represents a danger for the production of quality wines. More than one million hectares will potentially be free for planting in Europe. We cannot maintain a quality production in this context. EFOW does not ask for a specific help, but for the development of tools to manage production in line with the market’s. Such tools are necessary in the context of the CAP, and they are expenditure free“.
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[1] read more : www.bundesregierung.de
[2] EFOW (European Federation of Origin Wines) represents European origin wines towars the European institutions. CECRV (Spain), CNAOC (France), Federdoc (Italy), IVDP (Portugal) and HNT (Hungary) are the members.