Declining wine consumption in Switzerland Federal Councillor Parmelin wants people to drink more

The decline in wine consumption in Switzerland is causing lively discussions in parliament: Federal Councillor Parmelin is calling for more support for Swiss wines, but this has not met with universal approval.

Wine consumption in Switzerland fell by almost 8% in 2024, as reported by the Federal Office for Agriculture. Consumption of Swiss wines was particularly affected, falling by 16%. This development has led to a lively debate in parliament. This was reported by "Blick".

Agriculture Minister and Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin - who is also a trained winemaker - expressed his concern about the decline and questioned whether parliamentary subsidies were being used correctly.

You can't force people to drink if they don't want to, he said. "Even if I would like them to drink more," he said in the last week of the summer session, "how can we get consumption - primarily of Swiss wines - going again?"

Green national councillor disagrees

However, according to Blick, his comments were not well received everywhere. For example, Green Party National Councillor Manuela Weichelt (ZG), who sees this as a contradiction to efforts to reduce alcohol consumption and lower health costs.

Weichelt also criticizes the press release from the Federal Office for Agriculture, which describes the decline as a "worrying trend". She calls on the government to take a holistic view and warns against pursuing particular interests that could harm the health of the population.

Central National Councillor Benjamin Roduit (VS) disagrees. Despite increased advertising expenditure of nine million francs, consumption has continued to fall. Further measures are therefore needed to strengthen the market share of Swiss wine. During question time in the summer session, he therefore asked whether an import quota for foreign wines was conceivable.

However, Federal Councillor Parmelin rejects this idea, as it would neither reduce import volumes nor increase prices. Blick" does not provide a reason for this statement.

Weichelt is also against such a quota and emphasized the importance of prevention measures. It does not matter whether the wine comes from Switzerland or abroad when it comes to health, he said.