The fight against vices is a joint battle of the European Union, and it is best concretized in the warnings, often also visual, of the diseases that smoking could cause.
But there are times when vices are part of a country's culture, and Ireland's initiative to put such warnings on wine and beer bottles is causing protests in countries such as Italy, France and Spain.
The protests turned out to be futile, because the EU gave the green light to Dublin, which will put sentences like "alcohol consumption causes liver disease" or "alcohol and deadly tumors are linked" on the bottles of these products. Ireland is now only waiting for authorization from the World Trade Organization, within 60 days, to display the new bottles.
Winemakers are not too worried about the almost negligible Irish market, but fear that other countries may follow the Irish example.
"In many northern countries there is the phenomenon of alcohol abuse, but in wine the alcohol does not exceed 15%, we must separate consumption from abuse", declare the associations of Italian producers.