Logroño, Jan 20 (EFE).- The European Union will not approve the creation of the protected designation of origin “Viñedos de Alava” without the prior agreement of the Government of Spain, in this case, the Ministry of Agriculture (MAPA), which currently does not have it.
In this sense, the head of the Geographical Indications Unit in the General Directorate of Agriculture of the European Commission, Joao Onofre, has referred this Friday, in a conference, in Logroño, on the new Regulation of European Quality Regimes and Wine, organized by the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats.
“Viñedos de Alava” is a project promoted by the Rioja Alavesa Winery Association (ABRA), endorsed by the Basque Government, to market wine under the “Viñedos de Alava” label, but it is the European Union that ultimately has to issue a final resolution on the application for the creation of this new appellation of origin.
At present, the situation in this regard is under judicial process in Spain, after the Regulatory Council of the Qualified Designation of Origin (DOCa) Rioja -which share vineyards in La Rioja, the Basque Country and Navarra- has agreed to initiate legal action in administrative and judicial proceedings before the Justice of the Basque Country, against “Viñedos de Alava”.
Onofre recalled that the file for the creation of “Viñedos de Alava” is in the European Commission and specified that “a geographical indication cannot be approved” by the EU “without the agreement of the member state” and, “in this At the moment, (Viñedos de Alava) does not have it».
On the 11th, the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, during his visit to Logroño, held a meeting with the Permanent Commission of the DOCa Rioja Regulatory Council, which conveyed his concern about this new project, as it is the Ministry of Agriculture the guardianship administration of the DOCa, shared by vineyards in La Rioja, the Basque Country and Navarra.
Planas assured that the Ministry of Agriculture and the Government of Spain support the “unity and uniqueness” of the DOCa Rioja and said that “Viñedos de Alava” is an issue that “respects” and respects the Basque Government, but that it is a project that “it’s not going in the right direction.”
On this day, in Logroño, promoted by the socialist MEP from La Rioja, César Luena, the Agriculture coordinator of the Socialists & Democrats Group in the European Parliament, Clara Aguilera, also spoke, who said that the issue of “Viñedos de Alava It is not a technical issue, but a political one.
The general director of the Spanish Wine Federation (FEV), José Luis Benítez, has said that this Federation “supports” the position in which the DOCA Rioja Regulatory Council currently works in relation to “Viñedos de Álava”. EFE