VINITALY 2006 – EXCESS COSTS EUROPE TOO MUCH. ACCORDING TO THE EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER, FISCHER BOEL, THE EU SPENDS 500 MILLION EUROS PER YEAR FOR THE DISPOSAL OF SURPLUS WINE WHILE ONLY 14 MILLION GOES TO PUBLICITY

“The disposal of wine costs Europe too much”. This was the European Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel’s statement during her visit to Italy, where she attended the 40th edition of Vinitaly, choosing the oenological exposition in Verona as the location of her first official appearance in the country.

According to Commissioner Fisher “for the entire wine sector, Europe spends on average 1.2 billion euros per year, and of this 500 million is for disposal, while only 14 million is spent on promotion”.

The disposal of wine’s surpluses costs the European Union almost half of its entire budget for the wine sector. And with this in mind Commissioner Fisher emphasized that in light of the Ocm reforms it is necessary to “distribute as well as possible all of the resources and to avoid excesses in production”. Fisher clarified however that, “This does not mean saving or cutting resources, as much as it means optimizing spending with the goal of increasing competitivity for European countries on the global market”.

Among the priorities contained the new Ocm is “the creation of a new norm with simple and efficient rules to requilibrate demand and supply and to unite tradition and innovation as well as possible”.