Bid to protect ‘diversity’ of European food

Date: 03/08/00

By Simon Taylor

FRENCH Farm Minister Jean Glavany will call next month for tougher international rules to protect the quality and diversity of European food.

Glavany is planning to use an informal meeting of EU agriculture ministers in September, dubbed the "bonne bouffe" or "good eating" summit, to hold a debate on how the Union can ensure that it preserves the variety of its food production in the face of growing uniformity.

In a paper drawn up by the French presidency for the meeting on 3-5 September, Glavany calls for a strategy to deal with the challenges of globalisation. "The European food model should not be built in opposition to MacDonald's or Cola Cola, but it should be for diversity and the originality of our landscape and against uniformity and the lack of choice," states the paper, which adds that respecting diversity is a "fundamental cultural question" for European identity which should be reflected in agriculture and food.

Paris argues that the main way to deal with these risks is to "pursue the creation of a international regulatory framework which favours the existence of different models". It says the most effective approach is to fight for greater protection for products with a specific geographical origin, such as Roquefort cheese or Bayonne ham, in the World Trade Organisation.

Despite recent arguments with countries like South Africa over the Union's right to protect product names such as port, sherry and grappa, the paper argues that developing countries have an interest in making better use of existing rules to protect their own specialities instead of copying European products. Citing examples like Darjeeling tea, Basmati rice and Mexican tequila, it insists that "expanding the number of sectors covered by the register of geographical designations is an essential issue for developing countries as well as for Europe".

But it admits that the EU needs to do more to persuade other countries that its approach is the right one. "We must convince developing countries that they will not get much advantage from imitating or counterfeiting products and brands from developed countries," it argues.

Glavany says that within the Union itself, governments should find better ways of identifying the origin of products through labelling schemes and information campaigns. The paper also calls for more measures to encourage diversified production and promote the different culinary traditions within the EU.

It also takes a strong line on genetically modified organisms (GMOs), arguing that the technology is too new to be able to "assess properly the long-term risks and the changes they could mean for agricultural practices".

While stressing that biotechnology should not be condemned irrationally, the paper insists: "The duty of democratic governments is to put a brake or even a bar in the crazy path of producing for production's sake."

French Farm Minister Jean Glavany is to call for tougher international rules to protect the quality and diversity of European food.