Thursday, February 03, 2011

Thank God for the EU!

Did you know that the EU invented cognac? (Cheese too, apparently, but I think it's probably too humble to mention it.)

France's new Europe Minister Laurent Wauquiez ... told a meeting of the National Interprofessional Bureau of Cognac (which, it must be said, is a fantastic name) that without the EU there would be no....cognac. Mr. Wauquiez said:

Europe has protected cognac. For example, on the Chinese market, Europe has allowed us to force the Chinese to recognise cognac and protect it [...] If Europe hadn't been there, there's no doubt that we would no longer have cognac.

That's right, no EU, no cognac.
Because market demand has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with whether a product gets made and distributed...

4 comments:

Aaron Traas said...

I doubt the market has very much to do with production in France. I could see the sissy French Cognac makers throwing up their hands, effectively saying "Damn Chinese! If they can legally call their swill 'cognac', I refuse to make it, because the world doesn't deserve it! It's not like it's legal to fire me..."

I certainly would be sad indeed if I were not able to get nice bottles of Camus XO Superior, but if that were the price of the EU not existing, it would be worth the trade.

N. Trandem said...

As usual, the EU is only seeing half of the facts. The fact that they've focused on is that Cognac is brandy made in the region around the city of Cognac. The fact they're ignoring is that if you willingly purchase a bottle that says both "Cognac" and "Made in China" on the label, then you fully deserve the antifreeze poisoning you get from it. Personally, I'll take a Germain-Robin brandy over any Cognac any day...

HJW said...

mmmmm Beeeeeeer!!!

df said...

I suppose I can then legitimately blame the EU for the terrible cognac induced hangover I suffered recently - curse you EU!