Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-27-Speech-2-039"
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"en.20050927.5.2-039"2
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".
Mr President, I am glad to have the opportunity to address here the question of the European Union-United States Wine Agreement, which was initialled in Washington on 14 September. It will be submitted to Council for final approval in the coming weeks.
I wish to highlight two other very important points. Under this agreement, the United States and the European Union agree to resolve bilateral issues through informal bilateral consultations, rather than through formal dispute settlement mechanisms. This is an important declaration, as it represents a peace clause and will allow further constructive discussions to be held.
Given that this is only a first phase agreement, it was key to have some clear perspectives for the second and more ambitious phase. We have obtained a clear commitment to start the negotiations for the second phase not later than 90 days after the entry into force of the first phase.
The United States ultimately agreed to spell out more clearly in a joint declaration the issues that should be part of these second phase negotiations. These include important issues for us, such as the future of the 'ex' semi-generics, geographical indications, the use of traditional expressions, wines not covered by the agreement, wine-making practices, certification and the creation of a joint committee.
Lastly, I have heard some criticism to the effect that the Commission has granted the United States mutual recognition of its wine-making practices. This is not at all the case. We will continue to accept United States wine-making practices currently covered by Community authorisations. We will also accept existing United States wine-making practices not covered by the present Community derogations. However, it will only be possible for the United States to export those wines after the status of the 17 semi-generic United States names has been changed. New wine-making practices will be analysed and only accepted in the Community if no objections are raised. This is not mutual recognition.
Because the United States is our most important trade partner in the wine sector, I consider this first phase agreement a very important one for European wine-makers and exporters.
This is only a first phase agreement. It is the result of many years of bilateral negotiations, during which the United States was granted and renewed specific authorisations on wine-making practices, certification and labelling rules, completely 'for free'.
These never-ending negotiations affected the trading environment in a negative way. The United States left the International Wine Organisation in 2001 and created the World Wine Trade Group. Besides that, since the Community revised its labelling rules in 2002 with the adoption of Commission Regulation (EC) No 753/2002, the United States has been one of the most critical WTO members, questioning the WTO-compatibility of all these rules.
Another example of negative trade relations was the adoption by Congress in November 2004 of certification requirements for imported wines, except for countries with which the United States had a wine agreement.
Community exports to the United States amounted to almost EUR 2 billion in 2004, which is about 40% of our wine exports. The United States only exports EUR 415 million to the European Union. Considering, therefore, the importance of the United States market for the European Union, the evolution of our trade relations over recent years and the situation in the Community wine sector, it is my view that this first phase agreement is a very positive one for our wine sector. This deal will secure what is our biggest export market in terms of both value and volume.
I welcome the agreement, since it will help consolidate and improve our trading relations with the United States. It may also facilitate a non-polemical and substantial dialogue with the members of the New World Wine Group. In addition, this first phase agreement contains some provisions that clearly benefit the Community. There is now official recognition by the United States of our wine geographical indications, which will be protected under their labelling rules.
There are the 17 European wine names, such as port, sherry and champagne, which are currently considered as semi-generic in the United States. We have agreed that their use will be limited in the United States and that they will change their legal status to restrict them to wines originating in the Community in future.
The present situation will be frozen, but there will be no further negative impact from the agreement. We cannot underestimate the fact that the explicit recognition of these names as Community wines will benefit Community wine-makers and traders.
We will also be exempted from the 2004 United States certification requirements. Not only for wines covered by the agreement, but also for wines which contain less than 7% alcohol, which was an issue of interest to many of the wine-producing Member States. And let us not forget that, without the present agreement, we would have faced heavy certification requirements for our 2005 vintage. I can assure you that all these requirements would have been very costly for our export sector."@en1
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