Parliament set for vodka brawl (over potatoes and strawberries)

By Emily Smith

Date: 22/06/06

Vodka-lovers will get a chance to fight for the future of their drink on Monday (26 June) when a proposed review of the EU spirits regulation comes up for debate.

A hearing in the European Parliament will see interest groups explain to MEPs and the Commission what vodka should be made of, ahead of Parliament votes scheduled for after the summer break.

The argument came to a head when Poland, Sweden and Finland said the review should limit the definition of vodka to alcohol made from potatoes or cereal.

Existing legislation defines vodka as a spirit drink produced from ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin. It imposes no restrictions on what the agricultural origin might be.

The European Vodka Alliance (EVA) was set up earlier this year to fight the case for a broad vodka definition after the European Spirits Organisation admitted that its members could not agree on a common position on the vodka question.

EVA's Chris Scott-Wilson said his group just wanted to maintain the status quo: "It is for opponents to justify and explain the consequences of changing this definition."

About half the vodka drunk in Europe today is Polish but the vodka market in Poland and Sweden is in decline, according to Scott-Wilson. "Limiting the vodka definition looks like an attempt to eliminate a level of competition in other member states, it is a piece of disguised protectionism," he said.

But Leszek Wiwala of the Polish Spirits Producers Association said the argument was about protecting the quality of a drink that had been distilled from cereals and potatoes for hundreds of years.

New grape-based vodkas, along with the possibility of cheap vegetable vodkas from Asia emerging in the future, threaten to undermine this centuries old tradition, he said.

Wiwala denied that the restricted definition was about protecting the Polish vodka market.

"First of all, we've got a lot of other raw materials in Poland, for example apples, which might easily be used to produce spirit drinks, but it won't be a real vodka."

"Second, we just want a proper description of vodka, we don't want to stop anyone else producing it [from cereals and potatoes]...But if they want to produce it from, for example, strawberries we say no - no in Poland and no in Spain."

The Finnish presidency meanwhile has given the vodka industry another reason to be nervous.

Preliminary priorities for the Finnish presidency say Helsinki will suggest increasing alcohol taxes, particularly for spirits, across Europe during its six months at the EU helm.

The Commission last month published a report saying that 23 million Europeans are alcoholics and that alcohol causes 16% of child abuse.

In a communication on reforming the EU wine sector today (22 June), the Commission will suggest making health labels compulsory on wine bottles.

Article anticipates a hearing of interest groups at the European Parliament on 26 June 2006 at which interest groups were to explain to MEPs and the European Commission what vodka should be made of.