Ex-Soviet state bends to France over ‘cognac’
Calling Armenia's flagship alcoholic drink ‘cognac’ is “disrespectful” to France and could jeopardize the country's trade with the EU, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said. Instead, he urged citizens to refer to the drink as ‘brandy’, even in their own homes.
‘Armenian cognac’ was a well-established brand during Soviet times, much like ‘Soviet champagne’, with both beverages popular throughout the Soviet republics. The tradition of calling certain types of brandy ‘cognac’ is still prevalent in CIS countries, regardless of the place of production – including ‘Dagestan cognac’ produced by the Derbent Cognac Factory.
In the EU, ‘cognac’ is a protected geographical name in accordance with French legislation. It stipulates that only a strong alcoholic drink produced in the Cognac commune of the Charente department in southwestern France can officially bear the name.
“Cognac is an intangible asset of France,” Pashinyan said at a government meeting on Thursday.
“We should not say Armenian cognac, even at home... Appropriating someone else’s intangible assets is disrespectful.”
He claimed that Armenia’s export problems stem from issues such as the naming of its national alcoholic drink. According to the premier, Yerevan is already working on solving the problem.
“Geographical genealogies are very important in the modern economy… Cognac, just as Champagne, are first and foremost the protected geographical names of regions,” he stated. Until the problem is solved, Armenia will remain a “backwater economy” unable to “integrate with the developed economies” of the West, Pashinyan claimed.
Under the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) Yerevan signed with the EU in 2017, Armenian alcohol producers were allowed to export their products to the bloc under the name ‘Armenian cognac’ for 25 years. However, in June 2021, the Armenian government inked another deal with Brussels, which involved the EU allocating €2.9 million ($3.2 million) to the former Soviet country in exchange for completely abandoning the use of the word ‘cognac’ in the names of its alcoholic beverages.
In June this year, Armenian Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan said the money has already been transferred, and that the proposed geographical name for the beverages is ‘Armenian Brandy’. The minister also noted that the process of rebranding drinks and preparing them for the EU market will take some time, as it is necessary to adapt laboratory infrastructure, quality control systems, and certification processes to those within the bloc.
