Brussels, Tuesday 12 December 2017. The European Parliament and the AGRI-FISH Council of Ministers have today ratified the agricultural part of the Omnibus Regulation. EFOW, the European Federation of Origin Wines, warmly welcomes this adoption.

The agricultural component of the Omnibus Regulation introduces new, very positive provisions for the wine sector, particularly for wine appellations. Concretely, the Regulation improves the system of vine planting authorisations by introducing new criteria at the disposal of the Member States and extends the production potential management mechanism to wine spirits with a Geographical Indication. In addition, the text provides for new measures to cope with climatic hazards (i.e. lowering the threshold to trigger crop insurance) and to respond to negative price developments on the market (i.e. value sharing by Interbranch organisations).

EFOW’s President, Mr. Bernard Farges, hailed the excellent work done by the European co-legislators: “This is a reform of the CAP which will allow the wine sector, as of 1^st January 2018, to better respond to the challenges it faces. I applaud the courage of the Agriculture Ministers and all the MEPs, in particular MEP De Castro and MEP Dantin, who have seized this opportunity to support the wine sector. We hope that this constructive work will continue as we embark on a debate on the next reform of the CAP “.