November the 28th, 2021 - Could the Croatian term Prosek finally be protected by the European Commission (EC) and put an end to the dispute between Croatia and neighbouring Italy?
As Morski writes, On Friday, November the 26th, 2021, State Secretary Tugomir Majdak, in the presence of Member of the European Parliament Tonino Picula, participated in a panel entitled "Croatian quality on the European table - the protection of the traditional term Prosek".
The event brought together Prosek producers, oenologists and legal experts to discuss the course of protection, Croatian and Italian arguments and the problems of producers, and a day later, on November the 27th, from 10:00 to 16:00 on Petar Preradovic Square, a public blind tasting of Prosek and Prosecco was planned, with the shooting of a promotional video about the important and undoubted differences between these two wines, all with the tasting and sale of Prosek made by Croatian producers.
Back in 2013, the Ministry of Agriculture submitted a request to the European Commission for the protection of the traditional Croatian term Prosek, and this year, the European Commission closed the application review process and approved it as well-founded and justified, with an expected objection from an Italian organisation.
In order to advocate for successful protection of the Croatian term Prosek at the European level and in order to promote this Croatian wine, a panel was organised at which State Secretary Tugomir Majdak stated:
''I'm satisfied with the development of events in the process of the protection of this wine, which is extremely important for all of us in historical, tourist and gastro-oenological terms. I'd like to remind you that relatively recently, we successfully resolved another wine dispute, which was both legally and technically extremely demanding, and then our producers from Istria were given the opportunity to continue marketing the wine "Teran".
In the same way, the Republic of Croatia now has an answer related to Prosek and that's the only way in which our approach can be based in this case because we really have all the professional, historical and legal arguments for its protection. Croatian producers certainly have a legitimate right and expectation to have their products protected, which have all been produced in the traditional way and with full access to the market as their European counterparts have.
Today, Croatia has 31 products with their names registered in the EU with protected designation of origin or protected geographical indication, and is proud of seventeen protected wine designations of origin, six geographical indications on strong alcoholic beverages and one geographical indication of aromatised wine products.
For more, check out Made in Croatia.
