Greece, Italy and Spain fined for illegal vine planting

EU Commission efforts to drain the EU wine surplus were undermined by Spain, Italy and Greece as the three countries were found to be illegally planting vines. The EU has spent close to €1.1bn in the last 3 years compensating wine growers for grubbing-up their vines.

Spain must hand back €131.3m, Italy €98.9m and crisis hit Greece must repay €21.3m, although the latter has 18 months grace as it is already being financially assisted.

Vine plantings in the EU are currently controlled by quotas. The Commission plans to liberalise the market by ending its quota scheme, but several big producer nations fear this will cause a free-for-all that will bring a return to overproduction.