The FEV executive defends the role of wine in Europe
This week, the FEV’s Executive Committee has held an agenda of meetings with various European Commission bodies and also with a representation of Spanish MEPs in Brussels to defend the specific nature of wine in the face of the main regulatory developments at EU level and the key role of the wine sector in the future of the European Union.
On Monday morning, the FEV delegation, led by its president Emilio Restoy and Mauricio González-Gordon as president of the European Committee of Wine Companies (CEEV), met with the Directorates-General for Competition, Agriculture and Health and Food Safety to discuss how wine fits into different European strategies and policies in relation to digital labelling, the future of the CAP, climate change, international trade and public health, among other issues.
After the meetings with the European authorities, the FEV held its ordinary Executive Committee meeting at the CEEV headquarters and then the delegation took part in an event organised by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, the Permanent Representation of Spain to the EU and the FEV itself on the occasion of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, which was attended, in addition to the Minister Luis Planas, by the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, and the Belgian Minister for Agriculture, David Clarinval, the country that will hold the European Presidency after Spain. In their speeches, all three highlighted the quality of Spanish wines and the importance of the European wine sector in the world.
Concerns about new regulations such as labelling
During the event, which was accompanied by a selection of Spanish wines from FEV member wineries, the association’s president, Emilio Restoy, defended to the audience that wine in Spain and in many regions of the EU “is much more than a drink or a foodstuff, it is a sector that contributes to the social and economic cohesion of many European territories, generating wealth, especially in rural areas”.
“Wine is a foodstuff with a great history and an enormous legacy, but even more importantly, it has a bright future ahead of it and, for this reason, we at the FEV want to ask the Commissioner and the members of the Agriculture Council that the EU continue to be receptive and sensitive to the needs of the sector and actively contribute to its integration and promotion through the main European policies so that wine continues to be a source of pride, a driver of development and an emblem of European and Spanish culture and gastronomy in the world”, Restoy emphasised.
The agenda of meetings culminated in the European Parliament with a meeting with a dozen Spanish MEPs to discuss the progress made and the views of the different political groups on the main regulations currently in the pipeline that could affect the wine sector.