Brits and wine lobby prevail over vodka front in European Parliament
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The European Parliament decided on Tuesday that vodka can be made of any agricultural raw materials. However, the measure notes that if the spirit is distilled from anything other than grain or potatoes, the true origin of the fermentation must be mentioned on the label.
The decision was seen as a setback for Finland and other EU member states in the Baltic Sea region, who would have wanted to restrict the designation "vodka" to spirits using potatoes and grain in the process.
However, the defeat was not such a crushing blow.
"The vodka countries lost to the wine front with their boots on", said Finnish MEP Alexander Stubb. The Finnish point of view got the support of more than one third of MEPs who voted on the matter.
"At least vodka got a good position", Stubb noted.
The main opponent of the vodka front was the UK, which itself it is one of Europe's largest vodka producers.
Cheap British vodka brands use various products, such as sugar beet, as their raw material. If the name "vodka" had been restricted to drinks distilled from grain or potatoes, the cheaper British vodkas would have had to be renamed.
Currently, vodka is the favourite distilled spirit in Britain, usurping the position of whisky.
MEPs from Finland and the other Baltic Sea countries defended their stance on the basis of tradition. Potato and grain vodka has been produced and consumed in the area for 500 years.
The Nordic Countries, the Baltic states, and Poland produce 70 per cent of all of the vodka produced in the EU, and they account for 65 per cent of vodka consumption in the EU.
There was also a fairness argument: whisky, cognac, and champagne all have restrictions on what raw materials can be used for their production.
Conservative British MEPs had no sympathy for northern purity standards for vodka. "People are free today to drink the vodka they want - the British vodka drinker is saved from protectionists in Poland and Finland", rejoiced British conservative Europarliamentarian Timothy Kirkhope.
After the vote, British Conservatives held a vodka tasting session, challenging tasters to find a difference between Polish wheat vodka and the British version produced with less traditional raw materials.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 20.6.2007 - TODAY |
 Brits and wine lobby prevail over vodka front in European Parliament |
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