Manchego cheese has slowed down the EU-Mexico FTA
Negotiations for a new EU-Mexico Free Trade Agreement, scheduled to finish in 2017, will still have to overcome some important obstacles, among which Manchego cheese stands out for its symbolism.
The new Agreement, which the Mexican Government considers a priority taking into account the renegotiation problems of NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreement), has stumbled upon the EU’s proposal to recognize some Protected Denominations of Origin (PDOs).
340 PDOs have been included in the text, of which 63 are Spanish. There are 20 whose recognition by the Mexican authorities has stalled and caused the Treaty final approval to be delayed.
At the beginning of this year, several Mexican media warned about the possibility of banning the sale of the popular Mexican Manchego cheese, “ a product well known to Mexican consumers but different from the Spanish one”. Given this possible ban, the Mexican sectoral organization Canilec calculates losses of about €215 million.
In any case, this problem involves other countries, such as France and Italy, who also want to protect denominations such as Parmesan or Roquefort cheeses. The striking thing is that many of the objections come from US companies the manufacture, for example, food of Italian origin that they sell in Mexico.
(Source: El Mundo)