France did not support the renaming of the Ukrainian village to Champagne

France has spoken out against changing the name of one of the Ukrainian villages to Champagne, the media reports. We are talking about the village of Nadezhdovka, located in the Odessa region. The authorities of the settlement decided to rename it due to the fact that a winery of the same name is located in this area. They expected that thanks to this, the enterprise could legally produce wine under the name "Champagne" and not pay royalties. The requirement to pay it is spelled out in the Association Agreement with the EU, which Ukraine signed in 2014. Also, as Rossiyskaya Gazeta writes, the renaming was approved by the Rada deputies back in March of this year and is related to the policy of "decommunization", within the framework of which toponyms associated with the Russian or Soviet past should disappear from the map of Ukraine. However, the French authorities did not support this decision. The French Embassy sent a letter to the speaker of the Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk demanding ...