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Initiative of Rodi Kratsa for the declaration of a “European Year of Wine Tourism”
5 November 2009. A Group of Members of the European Parliament from different countries, among whom the Vice-President of the European Parliament, Mrs. Rodi Kratsa, announced the initiative of declaring a “European Year of Wine Tourism” in cooperation with the European Network of Wine Cities (RECEVIN).
The objective is to strengthen sustainable development in wine-producing regions and to link wine-producing activities with the history and the cultural tradition of every region.
The European Union represents 70% of the global wine market, wine tourism has taken significant dimensions.
According to Mrs. Kratsa “the declaration of a “European Year of Wine Tourism” will strengthen the promotion of the cooperation among the wine-producing regions in order for wine to be utilized as an economic and cultural lever of development of local economies.
This will offer opportunities of mutual cooperation among actors and cities as well as economic and cultural entities at the national but also the international level. It will also constitute an opportunity for the exchange of best practices”.
The Greek MEP stressed that “as far as Greece is concerned, only the Municipalities of Edipsos, Naoyssa, Nemea, Rhodes, Spata and Tyrnavos are part of the European Network of Wine Cities. Thus, the participation of more regions with rich production of high quality wine of our country should be enforced and supported”.
The MEPs presenting this initiative also presented a Written Declaration in order to be supported and signed by the European Parliament so that the procedure of declaring a “European Year of Wine Tourism” can proceed.