Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-03-15-Speech-3-107"
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"en.20000315.3.3-107"2
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"Who would have believed it? More than twenty-five years after the first debate on chocolate in the European Parliament and I am again involved in a discussion on the big question of whether a product can be called chocolate when it is not made exclusively from cocoa butter.
Today, as twenty-five years ago, this question has divided this House to the point that my Group did not produce a voting list and group discipline could not be imposed, which I love in such a case. I can therefore freely come out in favour of the solution which seems best to me for the producers of real chocolate, as appreciated by the gourmets who believe in calling a spade a spade and calling chocolate chocolate, provided that it is actually made with cocoa butter.
I deeply regret that we could not agree on the solution which seemed to me to be the most sensible which was that the name ‘chocolate’ should be reserved for products containing 100% of vegetable fats originating from cocoa and that the presence of other fats should be clearly indicated in the packaging of products containing these. In this way the consumer could be informed and not led astray, given of course that the marketing of these products in the single market would be guaranteed.
In terms of chocolate, as in other areas, different cultures and traditions exist. Everyone has different tastes. In addition to the ‘product quality and taste’ aspect there is, of course, the ‘development policy’ aspect. The ACP countries fear losses of income in the region of 160 million dollars if our large industrial chocolate producers use up to 5% of other vegetable fats, with this percentage being the recommended figure but not actually being verifiable.
The situation being as it is, I would have preferred the common position to be rejected in the same way that I prefer good handmade chocolate to an industrial product which is currently unverifiable. Unfortunately, a small majority in this House has failed to ensure that consumers can enjoy real chocolate."@en1
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