In the name of the " danger " that the coronavirus would pose to the wine sector, the socialist MEP Eric Andrieu asked the European Commission for the " urgent " activation of the crisis distillation mechanism to help the wine growers to sell their production.
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For the Aude MEP, elected from the Greater Southwest, the alcohol resulting from this distillation could be used for the manufacture of hydroalcoholic gel. " Even if this alcohol is a little more expensive than that produced with beet, there is now such a demand for hydroalcoholic gel, that everyone would be a winner, " he told AFP. “ The European Commission has the legal and financial tools to intervene on the market in times of crisis. If it does not do so today, small producers are in danger of disappearing, ”he argued.
He estimates the stock of French wine which could be distilled before the end of the summer at nearly three million hectoliters, and at around 10 million hectoliters in Europe, taking into account Spain and Italy in particular . “ There is an emergency. The distillation - the process of separating the fruit from the alcohol to create ethanol - must be done before July, because if the producers have not released volume at harvest time, or they will not harvest, or they will empty the tanks in the gutters, ”he warns.
According to him, the solution is supported by the entire French and European wine sector. This proposal is " essential to end the crisis, " echoed the president of the Federation of independent winegrowers of the Aude, Alexandre They, citing a " colossal impact " of the epidemic on the wine sector.
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" We are already coming out of a very complicated year 2019 " with in particular the tax imposed by US President Donald Trump on imports of French, Spanish and German wines in retaliation for European subsidies to Airbus, he said. Independent producers " are the first to be affected because our clientele is largely individuals to whom we sell in salons - all canceled -, hotels and restaurants, and wine merchants ", very hard impacted by confinement, adds he. To make up for the producers' shortfall, Eric Andrieu proposed to the States concerned and to Europe to cover the cost of distillation up to 80 cents per liter: 45 and 35 cents respectively. " We are awaiting a response " at the European level, he said.