Agriculture, Fisheries and Food welcomes publication of the wine legislative package, a key tool for the future of the sector

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food welcomes the publication in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) of the legislative package on wine, which will enter into force on 18 March, because it is a key tool for tackling the many challenges facing the wine sector.

For the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, the wine package is a "very positive instrument, which is going to give us more flexibility in the execution of the funds" of the Wine Sector Intervention of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which in Spain amounts to €201 million per year. The minister stressed that in addition to strengthening promotion measures, production potential and promotion, it is also necessary to open up new markets, for which he considered that the EU's recent trade agreements with Mercosur, India and Indonesia provide an opportunity.

The publication of the wine legislative package in the OJEU comes after the text was approved by the plenary of the European Parliament on 10 February, and by the Council on 23 February.

The new regulation incorporates the policy recommendations of the High-Level Group on Wine that can be implemented in the shorter term and involve amending the regulation on the Common Organisation of the Markets, the CAP Strategic Plans, and the regulation on the description, presentation and labelling of aromatised wine products.

The group's discussions took place between September and December 2024, concluding with the unanimous approval by the member states of a series of policy recommendations under three main lines of action: managing wine production potential, strengthening the resilience of the sector in a changing market and climate change scenario, and adapting to market trends and seizing new opportunities.

Many of the measures included in the package were promoted by Spain, including the relaxation of the authorisation system, modifications to promotional intervention in third countries, exemptions from nutritional labelling and the list of ingredients for export, and increased funding to enable adaptation to climate change.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food maintains a permanent dialogue with the autonomous communities and representatives of the sector to speed up the implementation of the measures in Spain. A meeting was held on 29 January with the directorates general of the autonomous communities, and on 4 February with the sector's representative organisations. These sessions have been followed by a series of technical working group meetings on investment (11 February) and crisis measures (23 February), and one on the licensing system is scheduled for 3 March.

Non official translation