Europe is paying farmers to destroy healthy vineyards after decades of paying them to plant more.
For years, EU agricultural policy encouraged expansion, guaranteed incomes, and shielded producers from market signals. Production decisions became politically protected rather than economically disciplined. As consumption declined across Europe, supply remained artificially high, producing chronic surpluses. Instead of removing the incentives that caused the imbalance, policymakers shifted to subsidizing vineyard uprooting.
The new Wine Package continues this logic through administratively planned supply reductions, crisis tools, and regulatory adjustments. It treats the consequences of intervention with further intervention.
The costs are significant. The wine sector supports millions of jobs and contributes over €130 billion to EU GDP. Yet a uniform policy affects regions differently. Bordeaux faces surplus pressures. The Douro, oriented toward exports and value creation, does not. Centralized correction risks creating new distortions where none previously existed.
Learn more: https://fee.org/articles/the-eus-wine-package/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fee-online
13 Comments
Muslim orders?
And yet, they aren't going to learn.
Not really central plannings fault, but incompetency. Surplus should be supported by the government
The US government did something prior to the Great Depression. It subsidized agriculture, produced massive surpluses, prices plummeted and the next president paid to have a lot of it destroyed.
This is a clear sign of ignorance of the most fundamental economic reality, the law of supply and demand.
But they are socialists and thus have severe mental deficiencies. It’s really the fault of whoever put them in charge.
Why can't governmetns just let the economy flow naturaly?
THOSE MONSTERS
USEBR: Union of Socialist European Banana Republics
The EU is on the path to become the next USSR
The world is too messed up to drink in rn.
It's voluntary program that member states can choose not to take part in and funding is from overlall "strategic plan". That means that french could just choose to put that money into for example building water retention. It's member state fault for burning eu cash on stupis shit like this.
Wow, it's like government interference in the economy creates more problems! Who'da thunk it?
Oh no, what will we do without all the wine deals driven by surplus wine? Well, anyway…
Never trust anything out of the EU or UN.