EU declares zivania uniquely Cypriot

IT MIGHT only be considered potable by Cypriots but now it’s officially ours.
The EU yesterday designated the Cypriot national alcoholic beverage zivania as a protected product, not only within the EU but also as regards third countries.

This means that no one within the EU or outside can make zivania and call it that.
Zivania, a strong colourless drink made from grape residues, has been produced in Cyprus since the time of Venetian rule around the end of the 14th century.

The decision by the EU Council of Agriculture Ministers yesterday in Luxembourg also encompassed Greece’s national drink ouzo, and two other Greek drinks tsipouro and tsikoudia as geographically protected beverages.

Cyprus will also be the only country outside of Greece with the right to make ouzo and market it under the name. Greece granted Cyprus the right to make ouzo when the island joined the EU in 2004

The EU has previously granted brand protection to other drinks and food products such as Cognac and Champagne from France and Italy’s Gorgonzola and Parmesan cheeses.

Cyprus will also apply to the EU to register halloumi cheese as a protected product, probably early next year.

Halloumi is presently registered as a protected Cypriot product within the US but not the EU.
The delay in registering the name ‘halloumi’ in the EU has been due to a conflict between dairy producers and sheep and goat farmers as to whether registered halloumi will contain cow’s milk or not.

Sheep and goat farmers feel that the government has sided for financial and electioneering purposes with the industrial dairy farmers with the result that they are ignoring the natural advantages that the island has to offer – namely, sheep and goat farming – while promoting a product that Cyprus has an absolute disadvantage in – cow’s milk.
??

??

??

??

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.