Brussels, 31/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament environment, public health and food safety committee has amended the proposal on the definition, presentation and labelling of spirit drinks. On Tuesday 30 January, committee members adopted the report of Horst Schnellhardt (EPP-ED, Germany) and subsequently managed to obtain a compromise on the differentiated labelling of vodka and to maintain the ban on adding artificial flavours to eaux de vie (spirits). The European Parliament will be making a decision in March on spirit drinks, and is hoping that it will then be able to conclude an agreement with the Council in a single reading (co-decision procedure).
The “consolidated” amendment of the compromise on vodka, presented by rapporteur, Mr Schnellhardt (on behalf of the EPP), Linda McAvan (PES, United Kingdom) and Jules Maatan (ALDE, Netherlands) was accepted by the committee with a small majority (39 votes in favour, 22 against). It stipulates that the differentiated labelling for “vodka” defines a spirits drink elaborated from agricultural ethyl alcohol from fermented grain, potatoes and/or molasses (without specifying molasses sugar beets or sugar cane). This is a victory for British producers who were afraid that under pressure from Polish and Scandinavian MEPs, the term vodka would be limited to drinks produced exclusively from traditional ingredients such as grain or potatoes. This compromise goes a little further than the first agreement outline obtained by the Council at the end of November 2006, given that it allows for the admission of molasses, sugar cane and other ingredients (grain, potatoes, molasses and sugar beets, EUROPE 9294). British Conservative John Bowis was delighted that “vodka in the UK will continue to bear that simple label. The attempt by the Polish and Scandinavians to restrict the term to their own products failed”. British Conservatives explain that almost 30% of vodka produced in the United Kingdom comes from molasses. The Commission initially proposed keeping the current non-restrictive definition for vodka, which has existed for 17 years (“vodka is a spirit drink produced from ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin, obtained following fermentation”) without providing a precise definition of the ingredients.
The parliamentary committee makes a distinction between this category of vodka, which will be defined as such, and vodka that is produced from agricultural raw materials other than grain, potatoes and molasses. Operators will therefore be obliged to mention on the label that the drink is “produced with” apples, for example, or grapes. If the vodka is made of ethyl alcohol derived from two or more agricultural products, it must, according to the parliamentary committee's amendments, be called "blended vodka".
The environment committee voted to maintain the current ban on adding flavourings or sweeteners to spirits, contrary to the Commission's proposal to lift it. The report removes the Commission's draft for the division into three categories: "spirits", "specific spirit drinks" and "other spirit drinks". On the basis that the regulation's purpose is to maintain a high standard for all spirit drinks, MEPs rejected the idea that category A "spirits" should be regarded as higher quality than category B and C "spirit drinks".
The environment committee looked at the issue of the regulation's legal basis. It agreed with Parliament's legal affairs committee that the entire regulation should be based on Article 95 of the Treaty, (on the internal market) which requires co-decision between Parliament and Council. The reference to Article 37 (rules on agricultural products), under which Parliament is only consulted, should, according to MEPs, be dropped. (lc)