Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, esteemed colleagues, and friends!

It is a privilege to address you at this conference on Geographical Indications.

My warm thanks go to the three organisations hosting todays event: the Association of European Regions for Products of Origin (AREPO), the European Federation of Origin Wines (EFOW), and the European branch of the global alliance of GIs (oriGIn).

It is inspiring to see many devoted professionals gathered together with a common goal of preserving and promoting geographical indications.

Our GI system provides a guarantee of quality, origin and authenticity, with thousands of registered names - more than 3,660 - that represent the true taste of Europe.

GIs can make a real competitive difference to our producers, rural areas and the economy.

In the EU alone, GIs account for a remarkable €75 billion in annual revenue. They also generate an average premium price that is 2.23 times higher than for non-GI products.

In short: GIs are a true EU success story.

And they remain a priority for this Commission. But although these quality labels have been in place for more than 30 years, I think that we can still do more – especially to increase their uptake.

I am sure you are familiar with the Vision for Agriculture and Food, the Commissions policy roadmap for the future of farming and food in Europe. We presented it in February this year.

It commits to further promote the uptake of GIs among producers as well as consumers. I will say more about the Vision a little later.

First though, let me offer some observations on GI uptake generally.

Regarding producers: there is a high concentration of registered GIs in Member States with a long tradition in this area – for example, in Italy, France and Spain. Others are catching up, such as Hungary, Romania and Croatia, but still have enormous untapped potential.

We should encourage more uptake of GIs, particularly in countries that are lagging behind.

With consumers: a recent Eurobarometer survey showed that while most Europeans – 56% – recognise the organic farming logo, less than one quarter of them – 19% – know the GI logos.

So: the key question to discuss today is how we can boost GI uptake operationally.

Since farmers appreciate stability, I do not think that we should rush to change the new GI Regulation that entered into force last year. Rather: we should make full use of it to boost GIs.

At the same time, several of you have written to me with interesting ideas for non-legislative initiatives to boost the sector.

In my view, we should provide a strategic framework that will allow the legal environment that recently entered into force to be put successfully into practice.

Raising awareness is also very important, among both producers and consumers.

Here, we can provide more support for dedicated promotion campaigns to highlight the best of EUs agricultural products with GI logos.

To enhance the visibility of GI products, an annual EU GI Award could be organised. This could be similar to the very successful EU Organic Award. It could have different categories – for example: best sustainability performance, best export performance, best communication campaign, and so on.

Another avenue that could be explored is voluntary cooperation with supermarkets to make GI products more visible on their shelves.

There are many other things that supermarkets can do to help make GIs more visible. For example, some of you have said staff working in supermarkets should be familiar with the meaning of the EUs GI logos.

We also need to continue to open up new market opportunities for Europes GI producers, helping them build up their businesses.

Here it would be essential to work closely with local and regional governments and use the power of public procurement. This reflects a key point made in the Vision, and I quote: “public procurement should pursue a ‘best value approach to reward quality and sustainability efforts made by European farmers”.

For many years, green public procurement has existed for organic products. Several regional and local governments request a considerable percentage of organic food for their public canteens. Could something similar be explored for food GIs?

If we really want to boost jobs in rural areas, could a regional government say, for example, that it wants 5% of the food that it buys for the public canteen to have a GI?

It is an interesting question. I do not have a clear answer, but I would like to hear your views.

New market opportunities include international markets, of course. This is why we work hard with our promotion programmes and high-level missions outside the EU to showcase the best of Europes agri-food products – including GIs – at prestigious international fairs like the Salon International de lAgriculture, Gruene Woche and – most recently – the World Expo in Japan).

Opening up these new opportunities should go alongside ensuring strong protection and enforcement of geographical indications – both on a European and international scale.

I must admit that when I travel abroad and see fake copies of our famous GIs, I do not like it.

That is why it is so important to ensure a good GI chapter in our Free Trade Agreements with clear enforcement rules.

In fact, the EU is actively engaged, multilaterally and bilaterally, in strengthening the protection and enforcement of these indications. Our aim is to prevent the misuse and unauthorised use of EU GIs across the globe.

However, some countries are more advanced than others in terms of protection and enforcement.

So, it would be good to support exchange of best practices related to enforcement, for example via such networking activities like the GI SMART Community Platform that you are launching today.

Finally, investments in research, innovation and knowledge exchange on GIs is also important for developing the sector.

The GI SMART project is one such example.

It develops tools and methodologies to promote the implementation of sustainability strategies by GI producers, make sure that consumers recognise them, and formulate policy recommendations for better design of GI policies.

We also have EU-funded projects like THEROS and ALLIANCE that develop innovative ways to prevent adulteration of food carrying quality logos with a focus on organic food and geographical indications.

These are just a few ideas for initiatives as part of the strategic framework that I mentioned earlier, to promote the uptake of GIs.

Developing these and other ideas further will naturally require consultation with all relevant people involved: farmers, associations, public authorities, and interested producers groups.

I very much value the exchanges with stakeholders like yourselves.

Your input will certainly be taken into account as we reflect on the best way forward for GIs. I can assure you that we will inform and consult with you on any future proposed steps.

Ladies and gentlemen: to return to the Vision for Agriculture and Food, because it contains many cross-cutting elements that affect geographical indications.

The Vision sends a clear message that farming and food are strategic sectors and critical assets for Europe. The agri-food sector is valued for the products and services that it provides.

Our policies will aim to create an attractive, competitive, future-proof and fair agri-food system for current and future generations.

To achieve these goals, the Vision identifies a series of policy initiatives to be carried out in the years ahead.

Let me start with generational renewal.

Across the European Union, we have a serious problem attracting young people into agriculture. I want to make farming an attractive sector to work in, especially for young people.

This is key for ensuring the future of EU agriculture and farming.

So, later this year, I will present a generational renewal strategy to tackle longstanding barriers such as access to land, capital and skills.

Then: we will further look how to strengthen the position of farmers in the food chain.

They must get a better revenue from the market so they can make the necessary investments to render their farms more resilient.

It is vital to keep agriculture competitive and resilient. This means: diversifying our supply chains, reducing critical dependences, and lowering the administrative burden for farmers and public authorities.

In May, the Commission presented proposals to simplify EU farm policy that could save up to €1.58 billion annually for farmers and €210 million for national administrations.

A further simplification package will come later this year, focusing on other policy areas that have an impact on farmers, agri-food businesses, and administrations.

We will also present the legislative proposal for the Common Agricultural Policy post-2027.

As the Vision says, the future CAP will be simpler and more targeted. It will shift from conditions to incentives, while giving Member States more responsibility on how to meet common objectives.

To conclude: I am confident that this conference will be a significant event for making progress with geographical indications.

Your discussions today will hopefully result in impactful and innovative ideas for building a stronger and better future for Europes valued GIs.

Thank you once again for your commitment, passion and dedication to this important cause. And again, thank you to the GI sector for supporting our initiatives in this area.

I wish you productive and valuable discussions throughout this conference.