From differentiation to integration: the development of European food quality labelling

‘Traditional’ food and drink are major industries and also linked to questions of identity, locality and sustainability. The article examines the development of geographical indications (GIs), an EU labelling system that is largely implemented at the national level with much discretion for member states, with the Commission largely a collector of national information. There has been much differentiation in the use of GIs (Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and Greece account for 70% of GIs), their content and links with national and regional food policies. However, the expansion of GIs has led to increasing pressures for tighter EU regulation and greater centralisation, notably from the member states who have made greatest use of them. The article will thus look at how and why a system with an initially high level of differentiation in policy implementation has bred pressures for greater EU integration. It studies not just economic advantage but also other aims and arguments, notably protecting (sub)national identity, in such developments. It focuses on the three largest member states using GIs- France, Italy and Spain- as well as the EU level. It uses cross-national comparison and process tracing through identification of key actors and their coalitions, resources, arguments and decisions.