Opposition to EU wine sector reform

On August 24th, the largest growers' association in Catalunya, the Unió de Pagesos, published their criticisms and suggestions regarding the proposed EU wine sector reforms.

The Unio agrees with the EU Agricultural Commission in that reforms are needed to guarantee the viability of the European wine sector, but does not fully support the EU Commission's proposals as these are seen to be too radical and in favor of the most powerful agro-business and detrimental to the interests of the small farmer. The Unio supports removal of excess vines, but only in so far as this is done on an equal basis for all regions and four years later than the proposed date of 2013. This reduction of vines should be voluntary and economic incentives should be given to areas where grape-growing is challenging.

Regarding the current pratice of distilling excess wine production, the Unio agrees with the EU that this has not been a practical solution and proposes, as a substitute for distillation, the creation of preventative measures to control excess production, such as compensation of growers for not completing harvests. Furthermore, the Unio is opposed to the rural devolpment funds proposed in the reforms as there is no guarantee that this money will reach the small farmers working there.