Image: (Reuters)
The Italian Minister of Agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida wants to protest in Brussels against the decision of the Irish Parliament to allow mandatory warnings on alcohol products in Ireland, based on the model of cigarette packs.
After Irish Health Minister Stephen Donnelly signed the tobacco-like labels warning of the liver and cancer risks of wine, beer and spirits, Italy’s Agriculture Minister stressed that there could be a market distortion, which he says goes against EU violate law. “We will work with my colleague, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, to decide how to challenge Ireland’s decision,” Lollobrigida said. Italy’s opposition to the shock labels has already garnered support from major wine-growing countries like France and Spain.
The new Irish law, the first of its kind in Europe, requires labels on alcoholic products to show the calorie count and percentage of alcohol, and to carry warnings about the risk of drinking alcohol during pregnancy and the risk of liver disease and fatal tumours included due to alcohol consumption.
“It is totally inappropriate to equate the excessive consumption of spirits, which is common in the Nordic countries, with the moderate and conscious consumption of quality products with lower alcohol content, such as beer and wine,” said Coldiretti Italian Farmers’ Confederation President Ettore Prandini. “The EU’s obligation to protect the health of citizens cannot be implemented with decisions that risk unfairly criminalizing individual products, regardless of the quantities consumed,” said Prandini.
Source: Nachrichten
