From the attacks on the consumption of wine because it is potentially carcinogenic to the days off fishing, from food labels at traffic lights to the reduction of meat consumption: there are many tables on which Made in Italy agri-food is now fighting with the EU . The last node, in chronological order, is that of fishing, which in Italy has 12 thousand fishing boats and 28 thousand jobs: the drastic reduction of days of activity to just 109 days a year imposed by the EU for 2022, supports the Coldiretti, puts the future of the Italian trawl fleet at risk. From tomorrow the Council of Agriculture Ministers of the European Union will meet in Brussels, and fishing quotas will be one of the topics on the table, so much so that two days ago the Agriculture Committee of the Chamber unanimously voted a resolution that binds the Government to protect the interests of national fishing in European offices.
The problem of fishing quotas, explains Coldiretti, is linked to the fact that the EU, in establishing every year the limits of catches to reduce the exploitation of the Mediterranean by 40% by 2026, ends up affecting the operations of our fleets “to below the economic breakeven point “. Not only the business associations (Alliance of the Italian cooperatives Pesca, Coldiretti, Federpesca and Uecoop), but also the trade unions Flai-Cgil, Fai-Cisl and Uila-Uil expressed satisfaction for the resolution voted by the Chamber: ” of great suffering – reads a press release – the EU ministers will have to combine the issues of environmental sustainability with those of the social and economic stability of the fish industry ».
The topic of the Nutriscore will also be addressed at the table of the EU Council. And Federalimentare, which has always been at the forefront of the battle against traffic light labels, is worried that a compromise can be made at that table: to exclude PDOs from nutritional labeling systems, and then say yes. “If we continue the exclusion of these products we will fight a battle in half – says its president, Ivano Vacondio – PDO and IGP, although important, represent only 10-11% of the turnover of the food industry and 20% of the export “. Also this week, but in Strasbourg, another tussle has opened between Italy and Europe, and which sees wine producers at the center: the Special Commission on the fight against cancer of the European Parliament, approving the report that it will then have to be voted on by the plenary assembly, ruling that “there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.” For Federvini «the vote risks legitimizing a position aimed at demonizing almost three millennia of history, culture and tradition of the Italian drinking civilization. Culture which for us means conviviality, sociability, in the context of the Mediterranean diet ».