REAL ale breweries in Huddersfield have been told Europe can play a key role in protecting traditional brews and enabling small breweries to flourish.
Yorkshire and Humber Euro-MP David Bowe told the regional meeting of the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) that the EU has an important role to play in protecting locally produced food and drink.
Mr Bowe said: "As a long time member of Camra, I am someone who has always been proud to promote many of our excellent Yorkshire ales within Europe.
"One of the key challenges is ensuring that the large brewing groups are not able to completely dominate the market and impose what I would describe as a kind of blandness which organisations such as Camra have campaigned against for so long."
Huddersfield is home to a number of traditional breweries.
They include the Rat and Ratchet Brewery at Chapel Hill, Golcar Brewery, and the Riverhead Brewery at Marsden, whose pub, the Riverhead Brewery Tap, won Pub of the Year 2001.
Mr Bowe said: "I was pleased to tell members that when we hold the annual Camra beer-tasting event in the European Parliament it is the products of our local Yorkshire breweries which always prove among the most popular with Euro-MPs."
