Athienou bread and wedding loukoumi could be registered as Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) products, after the Agriculture Department submitted applications for both to the European Commission at the end of September. The department said it expects a favourable decision in 2027.
The applications were sent to Brussels after both products cleared the national stage, where they received a favourable decision as no objections were filed.
The Commission will now examine the applications and, if it finds them complete, publish them in the Official Journal of the European Union, Athienou Mayor Kyriakos Kareklas told Phileleftheros.
Any objections can then be filed, and if the process goes smoothly, the two products will be entered in the EU’s register of PGI products, he said. Other Cypriot products, such as Sotira’s kolokasi (taro) and Geroskipou’s loukoumi, were registered the same way.
Kareklas said the favourable decision in Cyprus was a very important step and that registration would bring Athienou several benefits, highlighting the quality of the products and raising their profile. “It will help them both in sales and in the value they will have,” he said.
The municipality helped the bread and loukoumi producers in the border area prepare their applications. Kareklas said it had secured a European programme that funded a consultant to prepare the dossiers, so the producers did not have to pay.
