Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-12-11-Speech-2-045"
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"en.20071211.7.2-045"2
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"Madam President, I first wish to congratulate our rapporteur, Mr Castiglione, for bringing about a considerable shift in the Commission’s positions. We are certainly faced with a paradox here: on the one hand, there has never been so much wine drunk all over the world, and on the other, although in 10-15 years we will be witnessing record progress in wine consumption worldwide, we are told that Europe is overproducing. Thus I have the feeling that, rather than overproduction, what we have here is a sales problem, mainly down to marketing, and that is why I do not want the reform proposed to us today to be tempted to lower the sector’s standards even slightly in order to fall into line with the new wine-producing countries.
We must remember what has happened to European industry. Today Europe’s leading industrial producer is Germany. Germany has stayed at the top of the class, it has refused to cut down on production and today it is the world’s leading exporter, even with the arrival of China and India on the international stage.
We cannot cut back on the quality of our vineyards and their brand image. We must not, therefore, give in to a crude industrialisation of the wine industry, which in the future would supply us with Heineken wine, Danone wine, Coca-Cola wine and Pepsi-Cola wine. I do feel, however, that the Commission is tempted to get rid of the smallest and favour the biggest. That would result in us losing our soul!
I am thus asking you, Commissioner, to ensure that all of the elements that contribute to the quality of wine and can improve that quality – reducing yields, marketing support, careful protection of geographical indications and designations of origin – are preserved, not only within the EU, but also outside it, when it comes to major multilateral negotiations. I feel this is extremely important: otherwise we will be losing what is undoubtedly one of the most important elements of our agricultural industry, and our European civilisation: wine is a product of culture and civilisation. This is why we cannot give in to the mirages of the market and industrialisation."@en1
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