Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-06-15-Speech-4-168"
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"en.20060615.27.4-168"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, this is an historic moment for our European wine sector. The opening up of the world's agricultural markets and ever increasing international competition have called into question our wine production and marketing systems and have forced our producers to become more flexible.
The use of ‘modern’ oenological practices in many third countries and the less rigorous application of the 'wholly obtained' rule worldwide are excluding our products from our very own market, a market that, on its own, represents two-thirds of global trade in wine. If it is therefore truly essential to review the stringency of our rules and if this global challenge really requires us to be more flexible, then it becomes crucial to set limits and conditions for using these new oenological practices. It becomes crucial to balance this increased flexibility with the requirements of tradition, quality and consumer protection. This opening-up must serve to preserve and enhance the strengths of our wine sector and to give it new impetus, and definitely not to curb high-quality production to the advantage of wines with fabricated organoleptic qualities.
The Commission wants to justify the proposal under debate today by the need to avoid the risk of confusion for the consumer and to prevent a distortion of competition among producers. Commissioner, if this is really the desired purpose and if this is truly the intended aim, then I am sorry to have to tell you that we have a major failure on our hands.
Genuine consumer protection and a genuine desire to prevent any distortions of competition should have led to a compulsory provision, that is to say, it should have been made compulsory for the use of wood shavings to be indicated on the labels. Any other provision is and will remain completely ineffective when it comes to protecting the consumer and even more ineffective when it comes to preventing distortions of competition.
Only a clear label corresponding to the product’s content will ensure that the information is transparent. Only in that way will the consumer be in a position to know exactly what he or she is buying. Only in that way will his or her freedom of choice be safeguarded, together with that of the wine grower.
Not providing for this kind of information on labels means destroying part of Europe's wine sector in the near future, a sector founded on tradition, on diversification and regional character and on a real culture of wine as an expression of our lands.
European wine growers will have no choice in the matter. Sooner or later they will be forced to abandon their traditional practices because their products will, for no apparent reason, prove too expensive in the eyes of a consumer lacking proper, clear information.
Commissioner, is this the Community’s policy on protecting consumers? Is this the Community’s policy on transparency and labelling? Is this that promotion of the quality of agricultural products about which we talk so much? I would be grateful if you would kindly respond to Parliament as a matter of urgency."@en1
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