by Sophie Kevany
Angry French wine producers are threatening a nationwide day of anti government protest, following news of a proposed new tax on wine and the ongoing illegality of the Internet for wine and alcohol publicity.
"We have asked for a meeting with Agriculture Minister, Mr Barnier, or with the Prime Minister, Mr Fillon, and if there is no result from that we will organise a national protest,” said Xavier de Volontat president of the General Association of Wine Production (L’Association générale de la production viticole, AGPV).
De Volontat said the AGPV represents 500,000 people and 250,000 wine businesses, and that as of Monday, he had not yet had any response to his request for a meeting. In a press release, the organisation said the wine sector was being menaced by a hostile government, and that the difficult economic context and low harvest volumes were demoralising wine growers. "It is impossible that the government, which in May was launching a plan to reenergise the wine sector, is now proposing a tax that will raise the price of wine by 16%,” he said.
De Volontat also said the current illegality of the web as a medium for alcohol publicity must be resolved at the same time. "We don’t want unregulated access to the web, we just want a modification of the Evin Law,” he said.
The AGPV will hold a general meeting of members on 28 October and if solutions are not forthcoming from the government prior to this, protests will take place on 30 October 2008.
