It is a recurring story, but it has never convinced. Doctors and scientists see no relationship between wine consumption and the spread of cancer. For weeks throughout Europe, however, there has been discussion around the carcinogenic black list conceived by the European Commission. A list of foods to do without as they favor tumors and neoplasms. The list includes wine. The producers are alarmed, led by the Italians who see havoc in the medium and long term.
The new Minister of Agriculture Stefano Patuanelli will have to deal with it. Not only to reassure companies, but to support a fundamental agri-food sector. Even more within the agricultural mission of the Recovery plan.
Patuanelli shouldn't be slow to pronounce himself, because the organizations have already made themselves heard the day after his appointment. Let's also say that a large part of the question hinges on the trust to be accorded to the Commissioners in Brussels. Because they have made certain choices and with respect to a product that is widespread in every part. "We do not want to ban wine, nor label it as a toxic substance, because it is part of the European way of life," said the Greek vice-president of the European Commission Margaritis Schinas, although they expect clear decisions and measures. “It is fundamental for us – explained in turn the President of the Unione Italiana Vini, Ernesto Abbona – to protect the Mediterranean model in the European context. Wine has been dangerously included by the Commission in the category of harmful agricultural products in the new anti-cancer plan”. A blunder that on a commercial level, reminds us of disconcerting scenes, when tanks were emptied at the borders, in controversy with the production and import quotas.
Strategies on health and recovery, after the pandemic, cannot consider wine among the causes of such serious pathologies. All of Europe produces quality wine, with eco-compatible systems and markets it around the world. The European Commission should stop at a provision on mandatory labeling with the list of ingredients and a nutritional declaration. Transparency to block counterfeits and guarantee consumers. Medical science has never definitively censored the assumption of what is obtained from grapes. Before, but even more so in recent decades when techniques and methods have refined. A glass of “certified” red, white or rosé with a label prominently displayed on the bottle will drive away all kinds of suspicions and mistrust.
In any case, Italian winemakers have carved out their own space for dialogue with the new government. Patuanelli is the interlocutor but will have to manage the problem in a broader framework of support for the agri-food sector. After all, Teresa Bellanova's political legacy was satisfactory. It is not for nothing that criticisms of the Recovery plan prepared by the Conte government have had ample space in political discussions. We need to trace new scenarios of sustainable, organic agriculture with the 210 billion that came from the EU, widening the field.
In any case, the winemakers are asking for the completion of some decrees blocked by the government crisis. In particular, the one on oenological sustainability with rules on the greater visibility of the product. Companies expect 50 million euros of refreshments for 2020, despite the fact that exports fell by only 2,8% in the same year. Vineyards and wine are also involved in other development assets of the country, the producers recalled. They hope to soon restart the system of consumption, tastings, wine tourism, doc, igt, docg crops, because politics sometimes falls into ambiguity. As with the blacklist .
