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 Negotiators talk of accelerated progress and hope to thrash out a
skeleton agreement on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment
Partnership (TTIP) within a year, aiming for a major boost to growth
in the advanced Western economies.
But geographical indications (GIs), a 1,200-long list ranging from
champagne to Parma ham, present a major headache.
At the same time as euro zone leaders are ordering Greece to balance
its budget and liberalize its product markets, EU trade negotiators
are fighting to defend its signature cheese.
GIs are a cornerstone of EU agricultural and trade policy, designed
to ensure that only products from a given region can carry a name.
To the United States, it smacks of protectionism.
"It's politically extremely important in Europe. As (the EU) phases
out direct agricultural support, there has to be a trade-off by
promising to do more in trade policy," said Hosuk Lee-Makiyama,
director of the European Centre for International Political Economy.
"For 20 years they have been fighting about it at the World Trade
Organisation even if the economic value is disputed."
EU member states will have to approve any deal and will need food
name protection as compensation for EU farmers facing a flood of
U.S. beef and pork imports.
Agriculture is not a sizeable part of either the EU or the U.S.
economy, but farmers retain political muscle, as French livestock
and dairy producers showed this week by forcing the government to
offer aid after protests including road blockades.
Washington does not object to protection of niche items such as
British Melton Mowbray pork pies. But negotiators face a very
difficult task to find a balance for widely produced feta, Parma ham
or parmesan, the biggest maker of which is America's Kraft Foods <KHC.O>.
The EU introduced GIs and designations of origin in 1992, securing
protection for Greek feta, which means "slice", 10 years later when
it declared that non-Greek producers' use of the term was
"fraudulent".
6,000 YEAR HERITAGE
It is a view echoed by Christina Onassis, marketing manager at the
Lytras & Sons dairy in central Greece. She describes the unique
plants and microflora of Greece's mountainous regions and says feta
"imitations" mostly use cow's milk.
"For 6,000 years, Greece has produced continuously using milk from
ewes and goats," she said. "We also ripen the cheese for days, which
does not happen in any other feta production."
The issue is about more than just national pride for near-bankrupt
Greece. Its feta exports rose 85 percent between 2007 and 2014 to
260 million euros, and sales to countries outside the EU more than
doubled.
U.S. agricultural and trade experts generally recognize the
region-specific terms such as "Gouda Holland" or "Camembert de
Normandie", meaning that U.S. producers can still make and name
their own gouda and camembert cheeses.
However, they argue that the European Union has gone too far by
including the likes of gorgonzola and feta - terms they say are not
region-specific but generic like cheddar or mozzarella, which do not
have GI status.
"Show me on the map where feta is?" asked one U.S. trade negotiator.
In fact, under EU law, the feta-producing region covers almost the
whole of the Greek mainland plus the island of Lesbos. Only milk
from here can be called feta.
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The European Commission says names can be protected even if they are
not linked to a particular place. Feta, it says, is so closely
connected to Greece as to be identified inherently as a Greek
product.
In 2012 several non-European food producers and associations, many
from across the Americas, formed the Consortium for Common Food
Names (CCFN) to fight what they see as Europe's appropriation of
generic food terms.
"There's nothing wrong with GIs, but is something a true GI or just
a method of production?" said CCFN executive director Jaime
Castaneda. "Most consumers do connect feta with Greece, but most
also connect cheddar with England but it does not have to be made
there."
U.S. producers, he says, could lose billions of dollars in income if
they are forced to rename their products.
BATTLE ALREADY UNDERWAY
Even before an EU-U.S. free trade deal, Castaneda says U.S.
businesses are already affected in countries like South Korea, whose
trade accord with Europe includes GI protection.
"It's affecting us substantially in international markets, such as
Korea, by preventing exports," he said. "You see it too at
international food shows in Europe. This is a never-ending issue."
Ron Buholzer, president of the family-owned Klondike Cheese Co. in
Wisconsin, which makes award-winning feta and muenster cheeses,
shares that view, deeming it outrageous that anyone would claim sole
ownership of these names.
"This is an economic issue for us, certainly, but it's also personal
– it's about what's right and fair," Buholzer said.
The United States says the EU system is unfair because many American
producers of traditional products are immigrants from Europe or
their descendants, such as the Buholzer family.
It also notes that EU members have had doubts.
Both Denmark and Germany took the Commission to court over its moves
to grant Greece the exclusive right to use the name feta, with
initial success in 1999 before losing in 2005.
A compromise was found in the EU-Canada trade accord (CETA),
allowing Canadian producers already making "feta" or "gorgonzola" to
continue doing so, while new entrants would have to adopt other
terms such as "feta-style".
Greece and U.S. dairy exporters have already called this
unacceptable, highlighting the difficulties that lie ahead.
(Reporting By Philip Blenkinsop; By Paul Taylor)
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