By Anne-France White - 23rd October 2006
STRASBOURG: The drinks industry must cooperate on fighting alcohol abuse, Markos Kyprianou said as he unveiled the EU’s new alcohol strategy.
The communication, adopted on October 24 by the European commission, outlines a series of priorities on fighting alcohol-related harm.
The EU’s health commissioner told reporters he had been “surprised at the aggressiveness of the lobbying campaign by certain parts of the alcohol industry”.
But Kyprianou rejected claims that the strategy had been watered down, asserting that “the communication came out the way it was intended to”.
“The only effect of the industry's lobbying has been to create doubts as to their willingness to cooperate,” Kyprianou said.
“Now more than before they will have to prove that they are willing to work with us.”
One key priority area, Kyprianou said, is the marketing of alcohol to teenagers.
“So far, the most effective instances of cooperation between the alcohol industry and government are in the US and Canada – we still have a long way to go in Europe,” he argued.
The communication, which will be presented to the EU’s health ministers at the end of November, sets out a range of priorities including protecting young people and reducing injuries and deaths from alcohol-related road accidents.
The strategy’s effects are to be fully assessed in 2012, along with regular reporting by the member states.
The commission emphasises that the plans are not targeted at alcohol itself but at the real public health issues which are raised by alcohol abuse.
Hazardous alcohol consumption is estimated to cause 195,000 deaths every year in the EU, including 10,000 road deaths.
Some 55 million adults drink to hazardous levels in the EU, and excessive alcohol consumption is a net cause of 7.4 per cent of all ill-health and early death in the EU.
Kyprianou emphasised that the main responsibility lies with the member states themselves, not the commission – citing as an example the inadequate enforcement of the legal age for alcohol.
“Action needs to be taken in all the member states,” Kyprianou concluded.
UK MEP Catherine Stihler called the commission's plans a "softly, softly approach" and called for strict rules on selling and advertising alcohol.
Writing for the latest issue of the Parliament Magazine, Stihler said "hopefully the European parliament will be able to make a positive contribution to these discussions."
"I would like to see labelling of alcohol products and general health warnings similar to what you see in the US."
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