Confederation to triple marketing for Swiss wine

On Thursday, the Council approved a corresponding motion from its Committee for Economic Affairs and Taxation (WAK-N) by 98 votes to 61 with 22 abstentions. The picture on the electronic voting board was exceptionally colorful and not very compact. There were votes in favor, against and abstentions from practically all parliamentary groups. The matter will go to the Council of States. The Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG) currently supports the promotion of Swiss wine with CHF 2.8 million annually. In the coronavirus years 2020 and 2021, it spent an additional CHF 1 million as emergency aid for specific projects in the catering sector and among major distributors. However, the FOAG wants to reduce this additional emergency aid by CHF 200,000 for the current year and cancel it completely from 2023.

High marketing pressure from Italy

Commission spokesman Markus Ritter (center/SG) justified the demand for a significant increase in the federal contribution to nine million francs per year with the great marketing pressure from abroad, especially from Italy. The southern neighboring country is spending CHF 18 million on marketing the Swiss market. A level playing field is therefore needed for Swiss wines. The entire value chain in Switzerland is prepared to provide the necessary funds for half of the co-financing. A total of CHF 18 million would then be available to market Swiss wine to the public. This is also important because there is practically no longer any border protection for Swiss wine, said Ritter. Olivier Feller (FDP/VD) added that the increase in marketing contributions was also completely justifiable from a regulatory point of view. It was not a direct subsidy for winegrowers. According to the Federal Council and the committee minority, accepting the motion would lead to unequal treatment of the wine industry compared to other agricultural sectors. This would create a disproportion to the economic importance of wine in comparison to other agricultural products, said Economics Minister Guy Parmelin.

Lack of overall view

Kathrin Bertschy (GLP/BE) asked in vain on behalf of the committee minority that the federal budget be handled responsibly. After all, the motion would triple sales promotion. No other sector enjoys such a high level of marketing promotion. This could awaken further desires. It would be better to finally have a serious discussion about agricultural policy as a whole and make it sustainable. In addition, the linking of sales promotion with sustainability and quality criteria, as called for in the motion, would make the business even more complex, which would make it more difficult to implement in practice, the Federal Council stated in its written response to the motion. There is currently no general sustainability standard either in viticulture or for the entire food chain in the wine industry. (SDA)