France’s Agriculture Minister reveals support plan for the wine industry

n 6 February, a meeting eagerly awaited by the entire French wine industry took place with Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau. Although there was plenty of talk, it wasn’t just idle talk. The minister confirmed to industry representatives that he agreed to provide funding for short-term distillation measures along with possible funding for structural vine pulls in regions that needed it. He also noted that the Ministry of Finance would consider extending repayments of State-guaranteed loans provided during Covid from 6 to 10 years.

“As of now, and within the limits of the amounts authorised by European provisions, €40 million in national credits, complemented by €40 million from the European funding envelope (EAGF) earmarked for the wine industry, will allow a distillation campaign to be launched this summer. A second distillation campaign could be implemented from October onwards based on the same distribution between national and European credits, totalling a maximum of 160 million euros in 2023”, announced the minister’s office following the meeting.

The Ministry thus provided a coherent response to the industry from a funding perspective. Distillation has therefore been officially announced “but there will be no agreement if we do not reach a minimum of €200 million in overall funding for the scheme. I firmly insist on this”, commented Jérôme Despey, chairman of the wine board at FranceAgriMer.