The Croatian “Prosek” will compete with the Italian Prosecco: the European Commission has given the green light to the publication in the Official Journal of the EU of the application for registration of this trademark, destined to create confusion with the well-known Italian wine. A decision that has raised controversy in Italy, because Prosecco is a DOCG product and because wine export is one of the most dynamic sectors of Italian foreign trade.
The battle in Strasbourg
The Commission’s decision resulted from two questions to the European Parliament on the same subject, which divided the hemicycle in Strasbourg, but above all it offended Italy which now has two months to appeal and present its objections.
A chorus of controversy from Italy
The reaction of Italian politics to a decision that smacks of “wrong” is immediate. It is so for the Ministry of Agricultural Policies which says it has “already opposed this recognition and will use every useful argument to reject the application for registration promoted by Croatia, also appealing to the protection principles expressed by the Court of Justice in similar cases, such as example occurred in the very recent case of the Spanish Champanillo “.
A decision perceived as a great offense also by the governor of Veneto, Luca Zaia, who speaks of a “meaningless” choice and remembers “the EU should understand that, not only is it a product that has received all the formal acknowledgments, from same administrative structures of the European Commission, also with respect to the reserve of its name, but prosecco has even obtained the highest recognition of World Heritage Site by Unesco “.
Prosecco export flies and defeats Covid
Prosecco is one of the most dynamic sectors of Italian wine exports, This is confirmed by a recent analysis by Coldiretti on export data published by Istat, which highlights how in the first six months of 2021 there was a record increase in exports in volume of sparkling wine of 26% and a more incisive increase for Prosecco of 35%, better than the competitors Champagne and Cava.
According to the representative association of the agricultural world it is “the effect of the desire of foreign consumers to return to toast with Made in Italy bubbles after a long abstinence due to the closure of restaurants and he obstacles to exports linked to the pandemic”.
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