Agriculture and Food Sovereignty Minister Francesco Lollobrigida said Wednesday that Italy will resist in all shapes and forms Irish health warnings on wine which he said have split Europe and allegedly breach common trade treaties.
Ireland on Tuesday informed the World Trade Organization of the
new warning labels on bottles of wine, beer and spirits alerting
consumers to possible liver damage and links to certain forms of
cancer with excessive use.
Italy has made common cause with France, Spain and six other big
wine producing countries against the new labels.
"We will activate all forms of resistance with respect to a
measure that divides Europe and we are transmitting to our
colleagues who have signed a document with us, from Spain and
France, and from 6 other countries, the letter written yesterday
by (Foreign) Minister (Antonio) Tajani to (European Trade)
Commissioner (Valdis) Dombrovskis in which (Tajani) denounces
"that in our opinion it is a violation of the treaties on common
trade", Lollobrigida said on the sidelines of the 9th Economic
Conference of the Cia-Agricoltori Italiani farmers' group in
Rome.
The new Irish health warning labels risk hurting the EU, Tajani
said in his letter to Trade Commissioner and Commission Vice
President Dombrovskis Tuesday.
Tajani said the labels "risk being a source of distortion of
international trade, equivalent to a quantitative restriction".
He said the Irish move, as well as being open to criticism under
EU law, "could trigger a chain reaction that would end up
damaging the whole of he Union".
Italy has said it will appeal to the World Trade Organization
against the warnings.
Italian officials have stressed that wine is good for you when
drunk in moderation and Lollobrigida has said he will propose
mediation on labelling to include the positive effects of
moderate wine drinking.
Ireland on Tuesday notified the WTO of its new labelling policy.
The European Commission has given the green light to the
warnings on wine, beer and spirits, even though this would
require specific labels for products sold in Ireland and thus
pose a limitation to the single market.
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