A SMALL, grilled sausage from Bavaria has become the unlikely symbol of German resistance to the trans-Atlantic trade deal being negotiated between the European Union and the United States, after the country’s agriculture minister warned that “not every sausage can be protected” in the trade talks.
German Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt 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 genetically modified food and investor protection rules remain the most contentious aspects of the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, the minister’s remarks provoked an outcry in support of the Nürnberger 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, a 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.”
The sausage in question has been subject to strict local regulation since the 14th century; in the Middle Ages, Nürnberger Rostbratwurst failing to meet the city authorities’ quality standards were dumped into the Pegnitz river, which runs through the Bavarian city of Nuremberg.
After Mr Schmidt’s comments, his spokesman issued a clarification, offering support for protected geographical indications: the EU appellation that covers foodstuffs such as Parma ham and Roquefort.
However, the spokesman said he believed the rules should be implemented consistently, so that it was clear to Americans that Europeans were keeping to their own standards.
“There are, time and again, problems with feta cheese, which may only come from Greece and Cyprus,” the minister said in a subsequent interview. “One hears of companies that produce feta cheese in Denmark.”
The minister’s comments have fuelled German suspicions that the negotiations favour larger corporate interests over consumer protection and Mittelstand or smaller food producers.