MILAN, June 14 (Reuters) - Italy will not ratify the European Union’s free trade agreement with Canada because it does not ensure sufficient protection for the country’s specialty foods, new Agriculture Minister Gian Marco Centinaio said in a newspaper interview on Thursday. The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is a major trade deal for the EU and Canada and the national governments (and some regions) of all 28 EU member states must approve the agreement for it to come into effect. She was responding to reports that Italy’s Agriculture Minister Gian Marco Centinaio said Thursday the Italian government would ask the parliament not to ratify the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) since it does not ensure sufficient protection for the country’s speciality foods. In an interview published in Italian daily La Stampa on Thursday, Agriculture Minister Gian Marco Centinaio said: "We will not ratify the free-trade agreement with Canada because it only protects a small part of our protected designation of origin (PDO) and protected geographical indication (PGI) produce." Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters in Washington: “I’m confident we will have full ratification in the end, and the important thing is this agreement has entered into force as an economic matter.”

Of the 28 European Union countries, Italy has the most food products with PDO and PGI labels, including Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and Prosciutto di Parma ham.
Italian Minister of Agriculture Gian Marco Centinaio says the Italian government will not ratify the EU–Canada free-trade agreement since, according to him, the agreement does not provide sufficient protection for Italy's specialty foods.