Hungary has rejected an Italian offer targeting continued use of the traditional Hungarian Tokaji brand-name for wines, Hungarian Agricultural Minister Jozsef Graf said on Friday.

Talking to wine-farmers in the Tokaj region, northeastern Hungary, Graf said Italian wine-growers had approached Hungary with a proposal of paying "several million euros" if the country granted approval to them for continuing to sell wines produced in the Friuli region under the name Tocai.

Distributing wines under similar labels would create complications on the world market, Graf said, adding that it would also make it difficult to retain control over the Hungarian brand-name outside Europe.

Under a European Court decision passed in May last year, Italy must stop marketing its wines as "Tocai" as of March 31, 2007.

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Source: Xinhua