|
|
The umbrella organisation of winegrowers' cooperatives as well as the three cooperative regional associations will leave the German Winegrowers' Association (DWV) at the end of the year. This was surprisingly announced by the German Raiffeisen Federation (DRV) as the umbrella organisation in a press release.
It says that in the discussions in the DWV, the cooperative positions had "recently played almost no role in the orientation". The decision was preceded by a long opinion-forming process. "We want to go new ways in order to represent the interests of our winegrowers' and winegrowers' cooperatives in the best possible way," Dr. Henning Ehlers, General Manager of the DRV, explained the step. "For the wine industry, the split will certainly not make it easier to assert its interests vis-à-vis politics. The decision means a weakening of the producers", DWV President Klaus Schneider commented on the announcement of the cooperatives.
In the past two years, there had been fierce disputes between the representatives of the cooperatives and the other associations due to the long overdue reorientation of the wine designation law demanded by the EU. Especially in the discussions about the introduction of the Roman system with estate, local and single vineyards as well as the abolition of the large vineyards, the positions were very far apart. Many of the regulations passed by the DWV would restrict the cooperatives' marketing and make business more difficult for the self-marketing wineries, they now accused the winegrowers' association.
With their withdrawal, the DWV loses about 19 percent of its membership fees. The cooperatives are currently responsible for about one third of German wine production. The regional associations bring together 148 winegrowers' and winegrowers' cooperatives.
(uka / Photo: German Wine Institute)