INTERVIEW
His statement sparked an outcry. In January 2019, the Minister of Agriculture Didier Guillaume had attracted the wrath of many doctors specializing in addictions in the opinion that the wine was "not an alcohol like any other". A sentence he had assumed, before defending the cultural dimension of this drink in France. Laurent Mariotte's guest on Saturday in La table des bons vivants , the minister returned to this controversy, once again assuming his position, while reaffirming his desire to "fight against addictions to alcohol".
"I was insulted, assaulted, I had dumpers dumped on me," he laments at the microphone of Europe 1. "I was accused of wanting young people to kill themselves by drinking wine".
"In France, there is a story"
For the Minister of Agriculture, "obviously we must drink in moderation". "I do not want people to kill themselves by drinking alcohol," he says. "We do prevention everywhere (...) We must fight against addictions to alcohol and drugs".
But, adds Didier Guillaume, in France, "there is a history, the vigneronne history, the viticultural history". "We have people who work, we have good wine, and drinking a good glass of wine while eating a good product is a good thing," says the minister.