Official green light by Europe to “Wine Package”: unanimous vote by Eu Agrifish Council

The European Union has officially given the green light to the so-called “Wine Package”, unanimously approved during today Agrifish Council held in Brussels. The agreement follows the provisional deal reached in December between the EU Council and Parliament, the approval by the Agriculture Committee in Brussels in January, and the recent endorsement by the Strasbourg Plenary.
The measures supporting the wine sector are therefore confirmed, including production control, as well as wine tourism, promotion and exports, increased financial coverage against climate risks, and the update of designations for low-alcohol or alcohol-free wines: “alcohol free” for wines with an alcohol content below 0.5%, “0.0%” for those with a level below 0.05%, and “reduced alcohol content” for those above 0.5% but at least 30% lower than the standard alcohol level. EU funds may also be used for vine removal, while the maximum national support for wine distillation and green harvesting is set at 25% for each Member State. Each country may also increase EU support for investments aimed at countering the effects of climate change up to 80% of eligible costs. Finally, the expiration date for the planting-rights regime has been definitively removed and replaced with a 10-year review period.
The regulation - already welcomed in recent weeks with an overall positive response from major European and Italian sector organizations- will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the EU Official Gazette. It was also positively received by the Italian Minister of Agriculture, Francesco Lollobrigida: “Europe has shown ideological excesses toward wine, attempting to remove it from promotion funding  - he said -  from day one, the Italian government has taken a firm and clear position in defense of this product, acknowledging the responsibility to say that it must be consumed in moderation, but that we are not willing to renounce the value wine represents in terms of history, identity, culture, environmental protection, and of course, the economy”.