EU health chief calls for responsible marketing in drinks industry

New health commissioner Androulla Vassiliou has called on the alcohol industry to market their products responsibly.

Speaking at a meeting of the alcohol and health forum on Wednesday in Brussels, she said, “We need to be more ambitious in this area. My expectations will be very high.

“I expect the alcoholic beverages industry to market their products responsibly and especially not to directly or indirectly target children and young people.”

The alcohol and health forum was launched last year by Vassiliou’s predecessor, Markos Kyprianou, and is made up of 46 organisations – including businesses and NGOs – who meet twice a year to discuss coordinated action on alcohol-related harm.

According to the Cypriot commissioner, alcohol use kills around 195,000 people a year in the EU, and is at the root of 10,000 deaths in road accidents.

The alcohol forum was meeting in Brussels today to table 78 “commitments” received from companies and health groups to combat alcohol abuse.

Vassiliou said the commitments have the “potential to provide concrete answers to the issues at stake”, but stopped short, however, of committing the EU to any legislation in the area.

“It is very premature for legal proposals. We need to give the [forum] a chance and next year we will examine the impact of action taken.

“I’m confident we’ll have tangible results by next year.”

The commissioner said her priorities on alcohol were to coordinate member states’ actions, integrate alcohol abuse into other policies – such as transport, education, research, agriculture and taxation – and promote multi-stakeholder involvement at all levels.

She also welcomed the fact that groups with such diverse interests were able to sit together and formulate points for action.

“It is very encouraging that so many different stakeholders for the first time sit at the table and discuss the common problem – organisations which refused in the past to sit together at the same table.”

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