Cyprus wants the EU to speed up the process of protecting the halloumi cheese brand – its biggest food export – and unblock it from the island’s political division.
Nicosia’s application to makes its famous white cheese a product Protected Designation of Origin has been stuck in Brussels since 2015.
Due to the stalemate, President Nicos Anastasiades has taken the unusual step and written to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker asking him to intervene in order to unblock Cyprus’ PDO application.
In his letter, Anastasiades demands that the European Commission issues a decision on the registration of Halloumi as a PDO, accusing Brussels of 'delay and inactivity' while arguing that the conditions for registering the product 'have been fulfilled'.
Anastasiades, while stressing that the squeaky cheese’s PDO file has been pending since it was submitted on 28 July 2015, he quotes the website of the European Commission, which states that the time frame for ruling on an application could be from 4 to 10 months for products that fall in the 'Class 1.3 cheeses'. “In the case of Cyprus and Halloumi, this period has surpassed three and a half years,” wrote Anastasiades.
He added: "Unfortunately, as of 7 July 2016, we had no official response from the Commission, despite the fact that according to Rule 52 of Regulation 1151/2012 it is obliged to adopt an implementation order and issue a final decision on registration of PDO.”
The development comes after Cyprus lost its halloumi trademark in the UK last November after a blunder by the authorities. The authorities and Halloumi stakeholders regard the EU PDO file as the last resort to protect the Cypriot traditional cheese.
Cyprus is asking the EU authorities to unblock the PDO procedure which has been stuck for almost four years, because of its connection to the Cyprus problem.
Daniel Rosario, a Commission spokesman said earlier in the week, that Brussels is in the process of examining objections submitted against halloumi’s certification as a PDO on the basis of the understanding reached on the issue in 2015 after the relevant meetings with the President of the Republic and the leadership of the Turkish Cypriot community.
The spokesman did not answer whether and how the process would be speeded up, simply stating that the Commission is currently going through objections filed.
Daily Phileleftheros says EU officials appear dissatisfied with Nicosia, as it has overturned the agreement framework achieved in a meeting between Juncker, Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Akinci on 16 July 2015, by putting forward a set of conditions.
An agreement was reported to have been made to overcome any implications caused by the Green Line trade agreement, allowing Turkish Cypriots to produce and export Halloumi, or Hellim, as it is called in Turkish, to the EU.
