EU Parliament Votes Against Proposal to Rip Out Nearly a Million Acres of Vineyards

A solution to the oversupply of grapes across Europe will not include the destruction of 988,000 acres of vineyards as the European Commission had recommended. In a vote last week the European Union Parliament rejected the reform proposal.

In 2005, the EU paid $666 million to turn surplus wine into industrial alcohol and disinfectant. Estimates are that about a year's worth of wine is held in bulk storage across Europe.

The EU voted 484 to 129 against the proposal. The European Commission had said the vineyard destruction was necessary because of declining consumption in the EU and increased competition from the United States, South America, South Africa and Australia. Those voting against the proposal said it would devastate the economies of rural areas in many European countries.

Europe makes and consumes about 60 percent of the world supply of wine.