Horst Schnellhardt [SEP] native language
Horst Schnellhardt
Horst Schnellhardt (born 12 May 1946) is a German politician and Member of the European Parliament for Saxony-Anhalt. He is a member of the conservative Christian Democratic Union, part of the European People's Party.
He is the author and the namesake of the "Schnellhardt compromise" aimed at the defusing of the "vodka war".
The term has received much attention since 2006 in the context of the "vodka war" within the European Union about the standardisation of vodka: the vodka belt countries insist that only spirits produced from grains and potato must be allowed to be branded as "vodka", according to the long established traditions of its production, a brand protection similar to the "protected designation of origin". The "Schnellhardt compromise", proposed by Horst Schnellhardt, suggests that vodkas from other than cereals, potatoes and molasses, should be labeled