Storm over Ireland that wants to write “harms to health” on all bottles of spirits (including wines

Let’s think of a fascinating (and expensive) bottle of Sassicaia. The butter-dyed label with a blue wind rose on it. And then above a label like the one we see on cigarette packets: “It is seriously harmful to health”. Ireland wanted it – evidently to limit alcohol abuse – and, despite Europe’s no in the land where Harry Potter was filmed, that label (considered intimidating or at least disturbing by many) will end up on all wines and spirits. Italian wines and French champagnes included.
And the first protests are already arriving. In the front row, precisely, the “no” of Italy, which together with France, Spain and 6 other EU states voted no to the provision. «Ireland’s decision to introduce a label for all alcoholic beverages, including Italian wine, is absurd. Despite the opposition of the EP – he tweeted

the deputy prime minister and foreign minister Antonio Tajani – a choice that ignores the difference between moderate consumption and alcohol abuse. I will ask for the intervention of the EU Commission on the WTO”.

For many others, however, the Irish decision represents a perhaps decisive step forward for the health alerts on the label that will put wine and spirits on a similar level to cigarettes. At the end of December, Dublin will be able to adopt legislation which in fact, in terms of labelling, equates wine to cigarettes. In fact, indications such as “alcohol causes liver disease” or “alcohol and cancer are directly connected” can also be reported on wine, beer and spirits.

For Dublin, heavy alcohol consumption is a national health emergency and justifies labels that must contain: a warning about the harms of alcohol consumption, a warning about its direct link to deadly cancers, the amount of alcohol in grams (instead of percentage), calories, a pictogram (same as the one already in use) on the risks for pregnancy, and a link to a website on alcohol and health. Several countries opposed the measure, because it creates fragmentation in the internal market and is disproportionate, especially in view of an EU-level confrontation on the matter.