EU proposes culling its wine sector

BRUSSELS, July 4 (UPI) -- The European Union's agricultural commissioner Wednesday called for sweeping reform to the wine sector that includes abandoning vineyards.

Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said, in a recommendation that will be debated by the European Parliament, the union had to recognize increased competition from "new world" wines from the United States, Argentina, China, Australia, South Africa and Chile, and realize wine consumption was going down in Europe.

Among her recommendations was plowing under nearly 500,000 acres of vineyards, the EU Observer reported.

Each winemaking member state would be called on to shrink its by at least 10 percent, and growers who wish to leave the sector would be offered a financial incentive.

The 5-year plan calls for the union to stop the practices of purchasing unsold wine and then spending more on having it converted to industrial alcohol and cleaning products, the report said.