The compromise reached on 21 November 2007 in the Agriculture Committee is also set to obtain a majority when it is voted upon in the plenary on 11 or 12 December. Following a marathon vote on no less than 895 amendments, the committee report received a majority of 31 votes, with only seven against.
Rapporteur Giuseppe Castiglione, a conservative from the wine-growing region of Messina, on the island of Sicily, stressed the "extremely challenging task" he was faced with when trying to reconcile positions.
On the grubbing-up of vines, which was one of the most disputed measures proposed by Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel, MEPs voted to reduce the period during which winemakers wishing to give up the profession can receive subsidies from five to three years.
The committee voted against the Commission's plan to transfer the power to authorise new winemaking practices from member states to the Commission. It also voted against the Commission's plans to disallow sugaring wines, which is a common practice for lower-quality wines in some countries, while it is already outlawed in others.
MEPs spoke out in favour of preserving aids for distilling their surplus production to industrial alcohol, nullifying what the Commission considers to be one of the most effective incentives for the production of better-quality wine. They also voted in favour of an obligation, for environmental reasons, to distill by-products, namely pomace, to industrial alcohol.
MEPs voted for strict rules on labelling, under which "protected designation of origin" (PDO) wines and "protected geographical indication" (PGI) wines must be grown, processed, prepared, refined and bottled in their proclaimed regions of origin.
Following the vote, Greek MEP Katerina Batzeli, shadow rapporteur for the Socialist Group, was just as happy with the outcome as the rapporteur himself: "The proposal that the Parliament launched today goes straight to better quality and competitiveness of European wines".
