Minister Romic attended his first EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting on Monday and on the margins of that meeting he conducted bilateral talks with European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan.
Dalmatian prosciutto has no additives except sea salt and all phases of production have to be conducted in Dalmatia.
Minister Romic added that he also discussed the question of excess sugar and of Istrian Teran wine with Hogan.
Every member state has sugar surpluses that are considered to be normal reserves and anything beyond that is considered to be excessive or speculative surplus for which the EC issues may impose fines.
Croatia has a surplus of that nature from the preceding period and Romic explained that Croatia has requested and been approved a postponement of several months and that it was necessary to resolve this matter in that period.
Romic added that Croatia would try and resolve the issue of Teran wine through bilateral talks with Slovenia. "We will continue to communicate with the commissioner and at the next meeting in March discuss it in more detail," he said.
Slovenia obtained an EU protected designation of origin for its Teran wine and in 2013 banned the sale of that wine from Istria, Croatia in its stores. Because of that, the sale of the Croatian wine is banned throughout the EU. Croatia appealed the decision because wine produced in the Slovenian part of Istria is produced from a completely different sort of grape.
The ministerial meeting also discussed the difficulties that have resulted for European producers due to the embargo on EU imports in Russia. "The European Commission is looking for a solution and will make its proposals at the meeting in March," Romic said.