Big setback for made in Italy wine: the European Commission said the first yes to the Croatian Prosek. According to Brussels, Zagreb’s request to obtain recognition of the Prosek wine appellation would comply “with the eligibility and validity requirements”, so much so that the Commission has put it in writing that it will proceed with the publication of this request in the EU Official Journal. This is what the European executive itself writes in response to an urgent question by the MEP of the Lega Mara Bizzotto.
Faced with this decision, Italy is ready to make the barricade: “In the next two months, which represent the deadlines for presenting appeals and objections before the final decision of the Commission – said the Honorable Bizzotto – we of the League and throughout our territory we will carry out a pitched battle to defend the typicality and quality of our Prosecco and the work of thousands of companies ».
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In addition to opening a dangerous precedent, the attack on the Italian DOC champion of the world comes just a few days after the ruling of the EU Court of Justice, which on September 9 reminded that PDOs not only cannot be copied, but they cannot even be evoked in the name. On the one hand, therefore, Europe sanctions the Catalan chain of tapas bars Champanillo – «champagnino», in Spanish – because it evokes the well-known French wine not only in the name, but also in the graphics of the sign. On the other hand, however, it opens the doors to bottles of Croatian white, which in the name recall the Venetian bubbles.
“From the statements made by the Agriculture Commissioner Wojciechowski it was clear to us the direction that the EU Executive would take – said the president of the Prosecco Doc Consortium, Stefano Zanette – but the matter is by no means over: since the request arrived from Prosek will be published in the European Official Journal we will have 60 days to submit our comments. And we will not be alone: we will present the observations together with other forces that are joining us, aware of the gravity that this eventual approval by the EU would create. It would be a dangerous precedent, the drifts of which are easily understood ».