Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-02-13-Speech-2-238"
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"en.20070213.19.2-238"2
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"Madam President, as you said, today's debate in the European Parliament on the reform of the COM in wine introduces a cycle of speculation on the future of one of the most important productive, economic and commercial sectors in the European Union.
the compatibility or adaptation of COM policies with CAP policies;
maintaining the recognition at international and cross-regional level of quality European wines and wines with geographical indication and designation of origin, the classification of which must be decided in principle by the Council, with scientific opinions from the International Organisation of Vine and Wine;
strengthening cooperation between all wine agencies from the level of production to the level of movement through operational programmes;
strengthening rural and regional wine-growing with additional structural interventions.
In order to achieve these strategic targets, the Committee on Agriculture proposes certain measures, which include:
firstly, having a transitional reform, so as to give a chance for producers to adjust, so that they can abandon market support measures and move towards structural measures, cultivation practices and commercial action;
secondly, standard Community policies need to be integrated into national development and support programmes for the sector, depending on the priorities and orientations set by each Member State following consultations with operators at national and regional level.
The funding for these programmes, by which I mean the national envelopes, will need to be decided at Community level on the basis of standard objective criteria so that there are no distortions or inequalities between the Member States and the regions.
Commissioner, the market is at its most vulnerable and sensitive stage. It is at a dangerous turning point. However, with your proposals, you have spun your car off the road. You are ousting European wine and vintners from the market.
The Wine Spectator has published a study showing that, in 2010, the USA will be the biggest consumer of quality and expensive wines. However, with your aggressive financial interventions in grubbing up, distillation and enrichment, all the measures on the basis of which you are saving EUR 760 million euros, you would measure much smaller quantities in figures, but we would be driving European wine out of the market, even though this is not warranted by its development. In essence, there would be a radical redistribution of Community resources for the benefit of rich, high-yield wine areas to the detriment of regional and mountain areas, to the detriment of the diversity of European wine, and a redistribution of the market for the benefit of imported wines.
What we need to focus on today in this review is the objective of keeping the European sector at the top of the world league, the simplification of Community legislation, compatibility with other European development policies, product recognition, the proportionality of products and the cohesion of all wine-growing areas.
However, I should like to state my position on the amendments tabled in plenary. The views of my fellow Members are understandable and I am sure that they wish to express local and national interests and demands.
This report, as passed by the Committee on Agriculture, is a balanced and integrated report and can go as it stands to the negotiating table for the preparation of the legislative text. Watering down the positions expressed in this report would mean watering down the position and the credibility of the European Parliament. We cannot call in a loud voice for a radical reform and, in essence, propose a radical status quo. We cannot condemn the Commission for liberalising views and respond with nationalisation.
Finally, our proposals should aim to organise the future, not de-organise everything achieved in the past.
This was also the message from discussions in the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and from the opinions of the Committees on International Trade and Regional Development and from our consultations with operators in the sector at national and European level.
The reform of the sector must take account of the specific characteristics of wine production at regional and national level, the structure and organisation of the sector, its export capacity and the fact that it may be the only product to which Community legislation applies with a high degree of subsidiarity.
The arrangements under present policies and funding for the current COM, which have often distorted the market and the competitiveness of the product, should be converted so that the Community budget of EUR 1.3 billion under the first pillar is allocated to policies which will aim in the long term at:
maintaining and strengthening European vineyards;
reinforcing and improving the competitiveness of the sector at European and international level;
a territorial approach that takes account of environmental protection and protection of natural resources by financing agricultural cultivation practices;
balancing supply and demand by controlling production with the by-product and potable alcohol distillation mechanism and by modernising the vineyard register;"@en1
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