No C 105/46 Official Journal of the European Communities 26. 4. 79 
well have serious consequences (see the studies of 
accidental chain reactors in the Rasmussen report). 
1.9. The Committee approves the proposal as a 
whole. It considers that in the apportionment of funds 
Done at Brussels, 29 November 1978. 
The full text of the opinion is as follows: 
THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Article 43 
thereof, 
Having regard to the request made by the Council of the 
European Communities on 23 August 1978 for an 
opinion, 
Having regard to the decision taken by its Bureau on 
18 October 1978 instructing the Section for Agriculture 
to draw up an opinion on the matter, 
Having regard to its Rules of Procedure, and in particular 
Article 46 thereof, 
Having regard to its decision of 30 November 1978 to 
appoint Mr Guillaume, rapporteur-general, for drawing among the three subjects account should be taken of the 
specific nature of each, the results of existing 
experiments and the real importance of undertaking 
research in areas still insufficiently investigated, 
especially if more experimental work is proposed. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Fabrizia BADUEL GLORIOSO 
up an opinion on certain particularly urgent points in the 
action programme, notably some proposals on the 
organization of the market in wine products and a 
proposal for a Council Directive on the programme to 
speed up the conversion of certain areas under vines in 
the Charentes departments, 
Having regard to its previous work on the wine sector 
and in particular to its opinion of 13 July 1978 on the 
various Commission proposals on the development of 
the Mediterranean regions of the Community and their 
agricultural problems (Doc. CES 841/78), 
Having regard to the oral report submitted by the 
rapporteur-general, Mr Guillaume, 
Having regard to the discussions at its 163 rd plenary 
session held on 29 and 30 November 1978 (meeting of 
30 November), Opinion on the communication from the Commission to the Council on the action 
programme (1979 to 1985) for the progressive establishment of balance on the market in wine 
(Doc. COM(78) 260 final) 
The text referred to the Committee has been published in Official Journal of the European 
Communities No C 209 of 2 September 1978, page 3. 
A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
On 23 August 1978 the Council referred the abovementioned communication to the 
Economic and Social Committee in accordance with Article 43 of the Treaty establishing the 
European Economic Community. 
B. OPINION OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
The Economic and Social Committee prepared its opinion on the above matter at its 163rd 
plenary session held in Brussels on 29 and 30 November 1978. 
26. 4. 79 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 105/47 
HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING OPINION 
by 37 votes to 26 with 10 abstentions: 
1. Preliminary remarks 
Bearing in mind the stage reached in the Council's work 
this opinion will merely provide a few items of general 
information concerning the following points in the 
Commission's action programme (1979 to 1985) for the 
progressive establishment of balance on the market in 
wine: 
— Article 2 of the draft Council Regulation amending 
Regulation (EEC) No 816/70 (concentrated musts 
and rectified concentrated musts), 
— Article 3 of the same proposal (minimum prices), 
— Article 4 of the same proposal (over-production of 
wine), 
— the proposal for a Council Directive to speed up the 
conversion of certain areas under vines in the 
Charentes departments, 
— the ban on new plantings. 
Later on the Committee will be adopting a position on all 
the proposals in the action programme, and it reserves 
the right to comment then in greater detail on the points 
dealt with in the present opinion. 
2. General comments on the points taken into 
consideration 
2.1. The Committee would reiterate its previous 
positions on the measures that need to be taken to 
reorganize the wine sector. 
In particular it would refer to its remarks in its previous 
opinion, referred to earlier, on the various Commission 
proposals on the development of the Mediterranean 
regions of the Community and their agricultural 
products, in which it stated that 'there is no permanent 
machinery' (in the wine sector) 'for supporting market 
prices at an adequate level' and that 'the total lack of 
alignment in the field of taxes and duties (which are still 
the exclusive responsibility of the Member States and are 
extremely high in some wine-drinking countries) impedes 
trade in wine and artificially reduces the consumption 
and sale of table wines in particular'. The Committee therefore thinks that if the market is to 
be made more evenly balanced in the short term, 
concrete action must be taken on two fronts: 
1. On the production side: 
(a) measures to remove the imbalance between 
supply and demand must be encouraged; 
(b) there must be a system of permanent and 
automatic intervention, which caters for 
consumer needs and provides a price level for 
table wines of recognized quality that is 
sufficiently high to ensure that the producers 
enjoy a degree of protection comparable to that 
of producers of other major Community 
agricultural products. 
2. On the consumption side: 
indirect taxes and duties must be reduced and aligned 
throughout the EEC. 
The costs of paying winegrowers guaranteed incomes 
will be less if production is geared more to the market. 
2.2. As regards the new statistics in the Commission's 
report of 31 July 1978 on the progressive establishment 
of balance on the market in wine the Committee would 
point out that the EEC's average surplus is estimated at 
less than 6 000 000 hectolitres, instead of the 6 to 
10 000 000 hectolitres mentioned in a previous report. 
However, if one takes account of the past two harvests of 
1977 and 1978 this surplus turns out to be even less. 
2.3. The Committee would also point out that since 
the introduction of a common wine policy in April 1970 
the Community's wine potential does not seem to have 
grown. 
Of course, to offset vineyard loss, which has increased 
since the decision to freeze plantings in 1976, several 
table wine producing regions have shown an increase in 
yield per hectare brought about by improvements in 
techniques, planting methods and general care; but 
overall it seems that EEC wine potential has at least 
stabilized, if not decreased. 
2.4. It is, however, evident that the risk of cyclical 
surpluses still remains, and so there is a need for 
machinery that is sufficiently effective to prevent 
temporary imbalances on the market and a fall in prices. 
No C 105/48 Official Journal of the European Communities 26. 4. 79 
3. Concentrated musts and rectified concentrated 
musts 
3.1. The Commission plans to provide aid for 
concentrated grape musts and rectified concentrated 
grape musts produced within the Community when yield 
forecasts indicate a need for a large part of output to be 
enriched. 
3.2. The Committee would emphasize the benefits of 
providing permanent encouragement for the use of 
concentrated musts to enrich wines, since such a process 
has the advantage of using vine-based products and thus 
helping the general balance of the wine market. 
3.3. It also feels that the aid for must use should be 
supplemented by permanent machinery to encourage the 
long-term stockpiling of concentrated musts. Such 
machinery would be independent of that for stockpiling 
wine. A scheme of this kind would ensure that right from 
the beginning of each marketing year there would be an 
adequate stock of prepared products ready for use. 
4. Minimum prices 
4.1. The Commission is proposing that 'when the 
representative price for a type of table wine remains 
below 85 % of the guide price for three consecutive 
weeks . . ., the Council, acting by a qualified majority on 
a proposal from the Commission . . ., may decide to 
prohibit the marketing of table wines of this type below a 
minimum price to be set by the Council at the same time'. 
4.2. The Committee would point out that the concept 
of a minimum price represents an important new 
addition to the machinery designed to organize and bring 
about a balance on the market. 
But if the Commission and the Council had adopted the 
proposal put forward in, among other documents, the 
opinion of 13 July 1978 referred to earlier, where it was 
recommended that a permanent intervention system 
should be set up to support market prices at an adequate 
level, there would certainly be no need for a minimum 
price. The machinery recommended by the Committee 
would avert the sort of serious crisis that has prompted 
the Commission's present proposal to introduce a 
minimum price. 
4.3. Such a system should not conflict with Article 31 
(b) of Regulation (EEC) No 816/70, which prohibits any 
restriction on quantity or measure having equivalent 
effect. 4.4. The Committee would also point out that neither 
the minimum price nor the price set for any distillation 
are specified and both are subject to decisions taken each 
year by the Council. 
4.5. The Committee notes that the conditions under 
which a state of serious crisis can be declared are such 
that intervention measures may only be taken after the 
market has collapsed completely, which is too late. 
Moreover, the Committee considers that more details 
should be provided about the preliminary intervention 
measures that, as was said in the first paragraph of 
point 1, have to be taken before any minimum price is 
applied. 
4.6. The Committee feels that the following principles 
should be followed if such a procedure is to have any 
effectiveness: 
(a) a crisis situation should be defined as one where the 
market price is less than 90 % of the guide price; 
(b) distillation should be begun when the market price is 
90 % of the guide price; 
(c) long-term storage contracts guaranteeing payment 
during the period of crisis should be taken out. 
4.7. The Committee has been informed that certain 
table wines from non-EEC countries are at present 
coming into the Community at abnormally low prices, 
well below the reference price. It goes without saying 
that such imports may well nullify any measures taken 
in the Community to straighten out the market. The 
Committee therefore calls upon the appropriate 
Community authorities to take immediate action to 
remedy the present state of affairs and see to it that in 
future the reference price for table wines is really 
respected. 
5. Over-production of wine 
5.1. The Commission is considering a 2% extension 
of the bracket governing any alcohol distilled under the 
compulsory distillation scheme; it is also proposing to do 
away with the exemption granted to producers whose 
vineyards are situated in the Italian parts of the 'C zones, 
while at the same time limiting the maximum increase 
applicable to such producers to 5%. 
5.2. While reserving the right to come back on this 
point when it has had time to study it in greater detail the 
Committee would like to express the gravest reservations 
about the Commission's proposals, bearing in mind what 
has been said above. 
26. 4. 79 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 105/49 
6. Proposal for a Council Directive on the programme 
to speed up the conversion of certain areas under vines in 
the Charentes departments 
6.1. The Committee has taken note of the possibility 
of a surplus occurring in this region following the fall in 
demand for cognac since the beginning of the world 6.4. However, the Committee would like to see the 
programme applied to vineyards which are least suited to 
producing quality spirits, to the extent that sufficient 
production potential has to be retained to cope with a 
pick-up in demand. To bring this about it would be a 
good idea to vary the aid provided in the light of a 
vineyard's productivity. 
6.2. The amount of white table wine or wine suitable 
for producing table wine on the Community market is 
well in excess of normal needs. The Committee therefore 
believes that any measures aimed at reducing the 
wine-producing potential of the region will have a 
beneficial effect on the whole European market in white 
wine and, indirectly, on the whole table wine market. 
6.3. If, as at present, the amount of surplus acreage 
can be estimated at 15 000 hectares the Committee 
considers that the planned grubbing-up programme, 
covering 5 000 hectares, can be put into effect without 
delay as a first step. 7. The ban on new plantings 
7.1. The Committee will be adopting a position later 
on the Commission's proposals concerning the rules 
pertaining in future to plantings in the Community. 
7.2. However, to prevent a legal 
occurring, the Committee is in favour vacuum from 
of a one-year 
extension to Regulations (EEC) No 1162/76 and (EEC) 
No 1163/76 (i.e. those concerning the banning of new 
plantings and the grubbing-up of Community vineyards), 
which are due to expire on 30 November 1978. 
Done at Brussels, 30 November 1978. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Fabrizia BADUEL GLORIOSO 
ANNEX 
to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee 
The following amendment was rejected by the Committee: 
'Delete the second indent in point 1 and the whole of point 4.' 
Reasons 
Minimum prices for wine is too important and too far-reaching a subject to be dealt with under the 
urgency procedure. 
Voting 
For: 30; against: 32; abstentions: 12. 
The following passage in the draft opinion was replaced by an amendment adopted at the plenary session: 
Point 4.2 (second sentence): 
'But a permanent intervention system to support market prices at an adequate level, which the 
Committee has already recommended, would certainly remove the need for a minimum price.' 
Voting 
For: 38; against: 10; abstentions: 20.