Spain calls on Brussels to allow advancing part of EU aid to the wine sector ahead of 2028

Albert Cadanet/Brussels – Spain, together with Portugal, is calling on Brussels to allow the advance of part of EU aid to the wine sector and to fruit and vegetable producers ahead of 2028. According to a request to be presented this Monday within the framework of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council, Spain will urge the European Commission to introduce transitional provisions allowing the temporary disbursement of EU subsidies even if negotiations on the next multiannual budget for the 2028–2034 period have not yet been concluded. At the same time, Spain’s Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, will also argue before his European counterparts for the need to promote EU-level responses in the agricultural sector to rising prices caused by the war in Iran.

As Spain notes, current regulations do not allow the publication of national calls for aid applications for the wine sector until the EU’s multiannual budget is approved. This situation creates “serious problems” for 2028, the first year in which the new budget would come into force, according to Spain.

Given that negotiations on the EU budget are expected to conclude during 2027, the wine sector will, in practice, not know with certainty which aid it can access in 2028 until late 2027. “To ensure proper implementation, member states must publish calls for aid applications one or two years in advance of the budget year in which payments will be made; [...] as a result of these timelines, and in order to pay the aid in 2028, the relevant calls should be published in 2026 or early 2027,” Spain notes.

In this context, Madrid is asking the European Commission to authorize the early disbursement of aid even if the budget has not yet been approved. “This would provide the necessary legal basis for member states to publish calls for aid at the beginning of 2027, making the approval of applications conditional on the final budget allocation in the new multiannual framework,” Spain argues.

If this measure is not approved, diplomatic sources warn that the sector would be left in a situation of “legal uncertainty.” Similarly, the Spanish and Portuguese request calls for transitional measures to be applied to the fruit and vegetable sector so that professionals can benefit from aid in 2028 in advance.

Although no data is available to determine the exact amount of aid foreseen for 2028, under the current EU budget covering the 2021–2027 period, support for the wine sector in Spain has amounted to around €200 million per year.

The Spanish and Portuguese proposal currently has the support of Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

Measures in response to the energy crisis

Beyond the proposal on the wine sector, EU ministers of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries will address the situation facing the agricultural sector amid growing instability in the Middle East. With the sector experiencing sharp increases in energy and fertilizer prices, ministers are expected to call for stronger market monitoring to be prepared for potential new developments.

While diplomatic sources consider it premature to put forward concrete EU-level instruments, Minister Planas is expected to prioritise the implementation of coordinated measures at the European level.

Fisheries debate

Also within Monday’s Council, agriculture ministers will exchange views with European Commissioner for Fisheries, Costas Kadis, on the energy transition in the fisheries and aquaculture sector.

Decarbonisation of the sector has been one of the European Commission’s major objectives in recent years and one of the conditions required from Brussels to allow fishermen — including those in the Mediterranean — to operate more days at sea.