The matter is already in the hands of the European Commission, which decided in April 2013 that Croatian producers cannot sell wine under the name of Teran which was recognised as originating in Slovenia's Kras under protected designation of origin.

The main issue for Slovenia this time is that the registration under the name Istrian prosciutto (istrski pršut in Slovenian) would imperil existing products that are being sold legally on the EU market for more than five years.

But the Slovenian Agriculture and Environment Ministry has explained for the STA that Slovenia is not against the registration as such.

It merely wishes to secure an agreement that would also allow Slovenian producers of Istrian prosciutto to produce it under this name.

The ministry said that prosciutto labelled "Istrski pršut" is still being produced in Slovenia and is for instance sold in restaurants.

Slovenia decided to file an objection mostly because a part of the Istria peninsula also extends into Slovenia and because the name of many other dishes in the Slovenian part of this region contains the adjective "istrski".

The ministry has listed the examples of Istrian fusi (pasta), Istrian bobiči (bean and maze soup), Istrian štruklji (pastry rolls with filling) and of course Istrian prosciutto.

Thus, Slovenia wishes that Slovenian producers of Istrian prosciutto be allowed to continue producing it under the specifications drawn up by the Croatian association of Istrian prosciutto.

The region of Kras, bordering on the Istria region, which is divided between Slovenia, Croatia and Italy, is Slovenia's leading prosciutto region.

It is also home to the Kraški pršut, which is the best known prosciutto in Slovenia and was secured protected geographical indications (PGI) status already in 2012.

The EU has three geographical indications and traditional specialities schemes: the PDO, PGI and TSG (traditional speciality guaranteed) and while Slovenia already has 19 products on the list, Istrian prosciutto is one of Croatia's first efforts in this respect.

Croatia, which received a nod from Brussels in June last year for Istrian prosciutto, pending potential objections, has been pointing out that Istrian prosciutto clearly involves distinct production methods that are moreover tied to the Istrian peninsula's climate.