A decisive treatment of the abuse of geographical indications, such as a protected name of origin (PDO) and a protected geographical indication (PGI), and the falsification of food and beverages, affecting Greek and European producers, is demanded by the MEP and a spokesman for the European Commission.

In particular, he asks the Commission what actions he will take to deal with imports of counterfeit products, ensuring equal conditions for competition for Greek and European producers.

Mr Tsiodras stresses that products with geographical indicationssuch as olive oil, meat, cheese, dairy products and drinks such as beer and wine, are particularly vulnerable in falsification. Indicatively, he notes that alcoholic beverages face one of the highest falsification rates compared to other products.

Also refer specifically to financial impactsince only in Greece, each year, 49m euros are lost in sales and over 200 jobs, while in the EU, the annual sales losses amount to € 2,289 million and is estimated to be lost 5,700 jobs only in this area.

He emphasizes that these phenomena are affecting irreparably their producerswhile at the same time being a significant risk to consumer health, and also refers to specific criminal networks, such as falsification of labels and packaging and falsifying products with dangerous substances.

In conclusion, he stresses that the Commission must take action in order to address the abuse of geographical indications and reinforce the cross -border cooperation and the imposition of the law on the fight against falsification.