European directive garble stirs Czech slivovitz makers

Mar 30, 2007, 16:11 GMT

Prague - A draft version of a European directive on the labelling of spirits has upset Czech slivovitz makers, as an erroneous definition of their traditional Czech plum brandy would force them to rename it.

Traditional, quality slivovitz is distilled from fermented plums, but the directive only lists the definition of a lesser quality version of this hard liquor. It says slivovitz is the mixture of a plum distillate and an agricultural spirit.

While the amendment was published nearly five months ago and debated by the parliamentary Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety in January, the wrong definition was discovered only this week and caused a stir in the Czech Republic on Friday.

'I regard it utterly scandalous. A standard fruit distillate is of course called slivovitz,' Pavel Dvoracek, the general manager of well-known slivovitz maker, Rudolf Jelinek, told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.

A Czech Member of the European Parliament (MEP), Jan Brezina, told dpa that if the directive was passed, slivovitz makers would either have to rename their traditional product or sidetrack the directive by, for example, adding a few drops of spirit to the distillate. However, the first option was 'absurd' and the second 'embarrassing,' Brezina said.

As for the culprit, Brezina said that the definition was allegedly cut down by an unknowing MEP who wanted to simplify the text.

But, according to Robert Olma, the assistant of the directive's rapporteur Horst Schnellhardt, no one had made a suggestion to alter the definition. 'Neither personal or political intention' had been in play, he said.

'It was a mistake. I don't know by whom. I can't track it down any more,' Olma said.

As his boss suggested changing the categorization of spirits in the proposed legislation, the words must have been omitted during the cutting and pasting or translating, he explained.

'We will put it back as it was before,' he said.

The parliament was supposed to deal with the directive in its April session, but Olma said it would be postponed until May because the April agenda was already packed.