Agriculture and Food Sovereignty
Minister Francesco Lollobrigida said Monday he would work
closely with Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani
to combat Irish wine health warnings which became law on Monday.
Speaking after Irish Health Minister Stephen Donnelly signed
into law the tobacco-style labels warning of liver and cancer
risks from wine, beer and spirits, Lollobrigida said "the stigma
creates a distortion of the market" which was against EU law.
"We will work together with my colleague Tajani, with whom we
have been talking in these hours, to understand how to act to
combat Ireland's choice," said Lollobrigida.
Italy's stance against the labels has already elicited support
from other big wine-making countries like France and Spain.
Lollobrigida said in fact, "we will (act) together with the
other European nations, such as France and Spain, who have
subscribed a document of strong criticism with us".
The first example of its kind in Europe, the new Irish law lays
down that labels on alcoholic products indicate the calorie
content and the grammes of alcohol in the product and contain
warnings on the risk of consuming alcohol during pregnancy and
on the risk of diseases of the liver and deadly tumours due to
the consumption of alcohol.
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