Sausages at center ofb EU-US trade row

14:08 • 07.01.15
Economy

A small grilled sausage from Bavaria has become the unlikely symbol of German resistance to the transatlantic trade deal being negotiated between the EU and the US, after the country’s agriculture minister warned that “not every sausage can be protected” in the trade talks, FT.com reports.

Christian Schmidt, Germany’s agriculture minister, said in an interview with Der Spiegel: “If we want to seize the opportunities of free trade with the enormous American market then we can’t carry on protecting every sausage and cheese speciality.”

Food producers, politicians and campaigners against the trade deal seized on his remarks as evidence that the protection of regional brands would be sacrificed to globalisation.

While GM food and investor protection rules remain the most contentious aspects of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the agriculture minister’s remarks provoked an outcry in support of the

Nurnberger Rostbratwurst, a finger-sized pork sausage from Nuremberg which is protected as a regional speciality by the EU.

Progress in the trade talks between the US and the EU to create what would be the world’s biggest free trade bloc has been slow, and there is growing public scepticism towards the deal, particularly in Germany.

Anne Vollmer, spokeswoman for the BVE, a lobby group for the German food and drink industry, said: “Regional specialities must remain regional specialities. We don’t want Nürnberger Rostbratwurst from Kentucky, and Tennessee whiskey from Baden Baden. The seal stands for a designated quality and a designated expertise.”
 

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