Brexit will hit Italian wine industry by €52million EVERY YEAR
GETTY Italian wine is under threat from Brexit
A study by the European Association of Wine Industries (CEEV) shows the Italian wine industry will be ravaged once Britain finally exits. The UK leaving the bloc is expected to leave Brussels with a huge financial black hole of up to €14billion a year. Brexit is expected to hit the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) hard, with a swathe of funding to European agriculture cut back as a result. And, according to the study, cuts to the CAP will clobber the wine industry in particular, which could lose 15 percent of its contributions.
In major wine producer Italy, that would mean a cut of €372million in the years from 2021 to 2027, Il Sole 24 Ore reported. That works out at a budget cut of €52million every single year. Producers are relying on that financing for upkeep of their vineyards, invest in their cellars, insurance and marketing their bottles. And the loss in funding is likely to cause them massive problems going forward.
GETTY Italian wine producers face cuts in contributions
Paolo Castelletti, from the Italian Union of wines, said the predictions were hugely unsettling. He said: "These are worrying predictions that we hope to avoid because this could penalise some key levers of Italian wine competitiveness. “We will fight for wine to maintain its specificity and budget within the EU agricultural sector.” Panicking representatives from the wine and spirits industry met Michel Barnier’s team yesterday to press home the need to reach a trade deal with the UK.
GETTY Wine producers want a good Brexit deal