Activites

• 1999/07/14 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Regulation 1999/1493
  • OJ L 179 14.07.1999, p. 0001
  • Regulation 2001/2585
  • OJ L 345 29.12.2001, p. 0010-0011
• #2178
• 1999/05/17 Council Meeting
• 1999/05/17 End of procedure in Parliament
• 1999/05/17 Act adopted by Council after consultation of Parliament
• 1999/05/06 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T4-0448/1999 summary

    In the light of the agreement reached on Agenda 2000 at the Berlin Summit in March and under consultation procedure, the European Parliament adopted the second report by Philippe Martin (UPE,FR), which approves the Commission proposal for a Council regulation on the common organisation of the market in wine, subject to the amendments adopted by the Parliament on 11/02/99, and two other new amendments which, in particular, propose an action programme "Vine products and health" within the framework of the regulation.�

• 1999/05/05 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 1999/04/20 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0223/1999
• 1999/02/11 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T4-0100/1999 summary

    After voting a large number of non-binding amendments to the Commission's proposal to reform wine policy, MEPs then voted to refer the report, drafted by Mr. Philippe-Armand MARTIN (UPE, F), back to Committee for further discussions. The amendments included the following : - defining wine as an agricultural product resulting exclusively from the fermentation of grapes or fresh musts that have not been stabilised or frozen. - recognition of the importance of opening up external markets and providing better information for consumers about wine and health. - rights for new plantations : the EP wants the right to new plantations to correspond to 3% of the total surface area of the Member State planted in vines, whereas the Commission proposed a maximum 1% extension of Community vineyard surface area. The Member States would be accorded new rights every two years counting from the 2002-3 harvest year, depending on the situation of the markets for certain wines. - replanting : the EP considers that the right to replanting must allow vines to be planted over a surface area that is equivalent during thirteen years following the grubbing year. This right would be transferable from one farm to another at the same time as part of the farm. - creation of an aid regime for the transfer of wine-growing properties in order to facilitate the installation of young operators. - reconversion regime to be also allocated to rejuvenation. In addition to reconversion according to variety, the replanting of vineyards and management technique improvements, this regime should cover improved quality and vinification cellars, rejuvenation of the vineyards, replacement in the case of major health/sanitary problems and reconversion for biological wine growing. - all wines must belong to the species Vitis vinifera, in contrast to the Commission's proposal that wines would also be able to come from a cross between the above species and other species of the Vitis kind. - a committee of wine-growing experts from professional organisations, consumer associations and environmental protection organisations, as well as the Member States should be established to decide on lists of wine types and to ensure the preservation of the plant heritage formed by the older varieties that are fast disappearing. - support measures should be introduced for professional organisation in order to improve the promotion and marketing of wine. - grapes, musts and other products derived from gapes originating in third countries should, under no circumstance, be the subject of vinification or be added to wine in the context of Community production. The Ep recommends that the Commission should set up a group of special agents responsible for controlling the uniform application of the Regulation.�

• 1999/02/09 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 1999/01/26 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0046/1999
• #2151
• 1998/12/14 Council Meeting
  • 2151
• #2118
• 1998/09/28 Council Meeting
  • 2118
• 1998/09/14 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• #2115
• 1998/07/20 Council Meeting
  • 2115
• 1998/07/16 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(1998)0370 summary

    PURPOSE: to implement changes to the common market organisation for wine, according to the overall guiding principles of the Agenda 2000 proposals for changes to the common agricultural poilicy. CONTENT: the proposal considers the reform of the wine sector should take account of seven broad aims: 1) maintaining improved balance between supply and demand on the Community market, allowing producers to take advantage of expanding markets; 2) enabling the sector to become more competitive in the longer term; 3) eliminating the availability of intervention as an artificial outlet for surplus production; 4) continuing to maintain all traditional outlets for potable alcohol and vine-based products; 5) accomodating regional diversity; 6) formalizing the potential role of producer and interbranch (or equivalent) organizations; 7) considerably simplifying legislation in order to improve transparency and aid compliance. To achieve these objectives, the Commission proposes a combination of new measures and a refocussing of certain existing measures, as necessary to address the new situation: a) retaining the existing ban on new vineyard plantings for a further transitional period. Where replantings (i.e. which do not lead to an increase in the overall area under vines) are permitted, there will be a technical change to the existing rules to allow grubbing following replanting. However, to enable plantings in areas with expanding demand, an initial quantity of additional planting rights will be allocated to Member States via a new system of managing planting rights, with priority for young entrants to the sector. The system will involve the establishing of "pools" (i.e. reserves) of planting rights and is intended to be more flexible than the existing arrangements by facilitating transfers of unused planting rights to those producers in greatest need. A pre-condition for regions or Member States receiving any of the initial quantity of additional planting rights or transferred rights will be the completion of an inventory including information on areas under vines, varieties and planting rights, which will act as a control and monitoring tool for plantings. The existing Vineyard Register (Casier Viticole) remains in force. The allocation of additional planting rights will also be dependant on Member States dealing with cases of irregular plantings. b) grubbing-up measures are to be retained, but will be more specifically targeted by Member States in those regions with serious and persisitent structural surplus. c) reconversion measures, which will be available within the market organisation, are aimed at adapting vineyards to produce marketable wines (i.e. varietal conversion, relocation of vineyards and adoption of new production techniques). A clear distinction between reconversion and renewal of vineyards required as a matter of course will ensure that only reconversion is eligible for Community financing. Community funding for reconversion will be necessary for two components: - loss of receipts for producers who retain both old andreconverted vines until the reconverted vines become productive (no compensation needed) or, those who grub and replant on the same plot at a later date (full Community financing); - the material costs of reconversion at the level of 50% Community funding (75% in Objective 1 areas), the remainder being met by the beneficiaries. d) distillation: intervention as an artificial outlet for production will be achieved by a refocussing of intervention mechanisms. The following existing measures are abandoned: - "preventive distillation"; - compulsory distillation of table wines; - "support distillation". In addition to specific measures to supply the potable alcohol market, the Commission considers that the following measures are required: - a "crisis" distillation measure, available on a voluntary basis, to deal with exceptional cases of markt disturbance and serious quality problems; - private storage aid is retained to ensure continuity of supply; - the distillation of by-products measure to avoid the over-pressing of grapes will be retained as a quality measure in its current form, pending a more cost-effective solution; - the specific measure for distillation of wine from non wine-grape varieties remains unchanged as a transitional measure. The Commission also proposes replacing preventive distillation by a specific distillation measure for the potable alcohol market. To account for potential fluctuations in supply from the potable alcohol sector and avoid the accumulation of unnecessary surpluses, the system will be applied flexibly and operate in conjunction with a system of private storage aid. e) other measures: outlets for vine-based products, such as grape-juice, will continue by the retention of existing aid measures. Finally, rules on oenological practices as well as matters relating to descriptions, designations, presentation and protection are also included in the proposal.�

  • DG [{'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/secretariat_general/index_en.htm', 'title': 'Secretariat General'}],

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(1998)0370
• Debate in Council: 2115
• Debate in Council: 2118
• Debate in Council: 2151
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A4-0046/1999
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0100/1999
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A4-0223/1999
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0448/1999
• : Regulation 1999/1493
• : OJ L 179 14.07.1999, p. 0001
• : Regulation 2001/2585
• : OJ L 345 29.12.2001, p. 0010-0011

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)