| Author (Person) | Deer, Rein F. |
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| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.12, No.4, 2.2.06 |
| Publication Date | 02/02/2006 |
| Content Type | News |
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By Rein F Deer Date: 02/02/06 There is an old Swedish military tradition that officers briefly press their vodka glasses to their hearts before drinking a toast. This is how they chill their drinks, is the Finnish explanation. Moody people who need their shot of vodka every now and then, to deal with their similarly moody countrymen and the endless gloom of conifers, Swedes and the Finns are on the same side when it comes to defending the reputation of this noble and necessary distillation. Which is why they have joined forces with Poland, the biggest vodka producer in the EU, to resist the cunning French invasion of the vodka market. France has no business in meddling with our vodka. After all, Nordics don't have too many culinary specialities to brag about. True, there is IKEA's Swedish meat balls, but gourmets tend to hold Parma ham in higher esteem. Finns have reindeer meat and the Baltics their herring; but the foodies still prefer foie gras and lobster. Our view is that if Parma has copyright on its name and Cognac has the sole rights to sell cognac called Cognac, then vodka-producing nations need to get busy and canonise the name of their drink and its origin. Vodka is traditionally made of grain or potatoes. The Commission proposal would make no difference about raw materials as long as bottles bear a legend along the lines of "This VODKA is distilled from GRAPES". The vodka warriors claim that their pride is wounded by double discrimination. Labels which only have to indicate the raw material? It is the ultimate insult to northern drinking people, who even after a long session would not dream of marketing Armagnac distilled from potatoes. Absolut, Finlandia and Wyborowa producers all resent the idea of their goods being on display on the same shelves as illegitimate brews made of, say, sugar cane. The usual suspect, France, is to blame this time, too. The Commission proposal is tailor-made for the French distiller Ciroc, which makes vodka from grapes. Vodka is increasingly popular among young people because you can mix it with almost anything. The market in the EU is worth EUR 2 billion, over half of it made in Poland, and a third in Scandinavian and Baltic countries. But so far a six-pack of northern commissioners, Margot Wallström, Olli Rehn, Siim Kallas, Andris Piebalgs, Vladimir Spidla and Dalia Grybauskaite, have failed to convince their colleagues that defeat will be seen as the most terrible insult and humiliation by the vodka-drinking classes (everyone) back home. After all, what's the point of having Nordic commissioners if they can't stop such flagrant French monkeying around with all that we and our distillers hold sacred? Comment feature about a dispute between the largest Vodka-producing countries in the EU and the European Commission over labelling of the drink. |
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| Countries / Regions | Europe |
