The European Commission (EC) is working on health warnings on wine, similar to those on tobacco packets, highlighting the risks of excessive use, a spokesman for the organization said on Monday.
“Nobody is against wine, I think everyone likes a glass of wine. The Plan to Fight Cancer addresses the harmful use of alcohol, which is a public health problem,” stressed Stefan De Keersmaecker, in statements to journalists on the labeling of alcoholic beverages with health warnings.
This EU plan, recalled the spokesman, provides for a reduction in the harmful consumption of alcohol “by at least 10 percent by 2025.”
Italian Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida recently condemned Ireland’s decision to include a label on all bottles of alcoholic beverages warning that its consumption is “harmful to health.”
“We will support in every way, not only the defense actions against the aggression of lying labels, but we will carry out all promotional actions to explain at all levels what are the benefits of the Mediterranean diet, in its complexity, and of our nation. products”, stresses Francesco Lollobrigida.
The Italian minister added that Italy will take legal action “to claim the right not only to promote wine, but also to prevent some nations from stigmatizing it with misleading labels.”
This measure, which will be introduced before those projected by the European Union (EU), is aimed at bottles of wine, beer and spirits, and has drawn attention in the multi-billion dollar Italian wine industry.
Italy has revealed that it will appeal to the EC, requesting the involvement of the World Trade Organization, against the introduction of labels warning that alcohol damages the liver and is associated with cancer.
The Portuguese government also challenged last week the Irish regulations on the labeling of alcoholic beverages, arguing that these “do not conform” to European regulations, which define harmonized standards for the labeling of food products.
“Portugal was one of the Member States of the European Union that challenged the Irish regulation proposal, considering that the project foresees the introduction of restrictions on the commercialization, in the Irish market, of alcoholic beverages from other Member States, through the imposition of new labeling requirements for these products,” the Ministry of Economy and the Sea said on Friday, in response to Lusa.
According to the executive’s data, in 2021 Portuguese wine exports to Ireland stood at 6.3 million euros, 39.5% more than the previous year.
Ireland is the 23rd customer for Portuguese wines worldwide and the 12th at the community level.
Irish warnings similar to those used on cigarettes were tacitly approved after the EC failed to block them.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, also deputy prime minister, met on Monday with his Irish counterpart, Micheál Martin, agreeing to establish negotiations on this issue.
Source: TSF
