Alcohol policies in EU member states

Esa Österberg and Thomas Karlsson

Alcohol policies in the 1950s

In the early 1950s there were large differences in alcohol policies among the present EU member states. In all Nordic member states as well as in Iceland and Norway, alcohol policy was built on high excise duties on alcoholic beverages and, with the exception of Denmark, on comprehensive state alcohol monopoly systems and strict personal control. In the Mediterranean EU member states there were only few alcohol policy measures in force, and many of these were motivated by industrial or commercial interests. In the Mediterranean as well as in many Central European countries the term alcohol policy was not even known.

Compared to the Nordic countries, special taxes on alcoholic beverages and especially on wine were very low in the Mediterranean countries in the early 1950s. As wine was in these countries the clearly preferred beverage, alcohol consumers in the Mediterranean countries hardly paid any alcohol taxes at all. Drinkers in the Nordic monopoly countries concentrated on drinking distilled spirits, the most heavily taxed form of alcohol in these countries.

In the Central European member states beer was the preferred beverage. Many of these countries have, however, a history of consuming distilled spirits, and also a history of temperance movements. In the early 1950s Ireland and the United Kingdom, had a strict and functioning licensing system especially for on-premise retail sales of alcoholic beverages. Belgium and the Netherlands had in force remnants of an earlier tight alcohol control system.

The Central European beer countries also collected special taxes on alcoholic beverages. However, the term Central European beer countries is not very good, as there are systematic differences in alcohol policies in these countries on the east-west dimension.

Converging alcohol policies

The second half of the twentieth century is a period of converging alcohol policies in the present EU member states (Karlsson & Österberg, 2001). The converging tendency cannot, however, be understood by referring to similar trends in groups of countries either on the basis of the preferred beverage or geographical location. The converging trend can, however, be understood when looking at trends in different areas of alcohol control.

In 2000-2001 the level of alcohol excise duties still follows the old distinction made on the basis of the preferred beverage. Alcohol excise duties are clearly lowest in the Mediterranean wine preferring countries as well as in other wine producing countries. They are highest in the Nordic countries, the former spirits drinking countries, followed by Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Those member states falling in between these extremes are all located in continental Central Europe.

Decrease in the control of alcohol availability

The control of the production, wholesale and retail sale of alcoholic beverages has decreased during the last fifty years in the present EU member states meaning that alcohol control measures targeted on alcohol availability and supply have lost ground. The most important explanations of this development are the increased importance of free market orientation and the growth of consumerism.

The creation of the single European market in 1993 alone has led to the abolition of many alcohol control measures starting from production, import, export and wholesale monopolies and ending in new regulations concerning licensing of retail sale outlets. In most EU member states granting of alcohol licences is nowadays a formal procedure where every applicant fulfilling some basic requirements, for instance, having no criminal record, will obtain the licence.

Also the growth of consumerism has put pressure on alcohol control measures, as consumers are not any longer willing to be guided by governments. Therefore, restrictions on the days and hours of retail sale of alcoholic beverages, as well as other obstacles to free consumer choice, have been increasingly criticised, and many restrictions have also loosened or been abolished. The legal age limits for buying alcoholic beverages have, however, been kept and even been made stricter during the last fifty years.

There are also many commercial operations being interested in increasing alcohol availability and consumption. Consequently, it is not infrequent to see contradictory governmental policies related to alcoholic beverages. The ministries of agriculture are trying to safeguard the interest of wine growers. The ministries of industry act in the interests of breweries and distilleries, while the ministries of social affairs and health aim to prevent the harms caused by alcohol. These conflicting interests have also affected the developments in alcohol availability.

Affecting alcohol demand

The control of alcohol demand is clearly an area that has gained in importance. In practice this means more alcohol information and education as well as new or stricter regulations on alcohol advertisement and sponsorship. There are nowadays also more and harsher alcohol control measures aimed at certain alcohol-related problems like drunk driving and public drinking both generally and in certain problem-prone situations. Imposed or lower blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limits reflect the increases of alcohol-related problems in traffic but also the development of technical devices able to measure the BAC quickly and reliably.

In most EU members states there is nowadays either a national alcohol prevention or education programme and a responsible agency. Even in those member states which are lacking these kinds of programmes, like Greece, there have been serious discussions to introduce such programmes. Prevention and education programmes are not of course as such guarantees of effective action. However, their existence means that the alcohol issue has been included, in one way or another, in the national political agenda. That these kinds of programmes have become more prevalent is partly related to the activities of the World Health Organization as its European office has developed alcohol action plans agreed on by its member states.

The trends will continue

Alcohol policies are nowadays more similar in the EU member states than they used to be in the early 1950s. This overall converging trend consists of two kinds of developments. On the one hand, measures affecting alcohol availability are nowadays applied to a much lesser extent than fifty years ago. In other words, countries which in the 1950s practised strict alcohol control policies targeted on alcohol availability and supply have dismantled them, while countries that have begun to be interested in alcohol policies, have not focused on controlling the availability of alcohol. On the other hand, alcohol control measures targeting certain alcohol-related problems, or aiming to affect the demand for alcoholic beverages, have become more common in all EU member states. At first, it might be a little surprising that EU member states have at the same time abolished alcohol control measures affecting alcohol availability and known to be effective, and introduced control measures aiming to affect alcohol demand even if they are known to be much less effective at least in the short run.

Our basic explanation for the decreasing control of alcohol availability is that guaranteeing free movement of capital, goods, services and labour has been the leading principle in organising the world economy in recent decades. Therefore, many alcohol control measures affecting alcohol supply have been seen as obstacles to free trade in alcoholic beverages, and have been abolished. It is difficult to see that this trend would be discontinued or turned, even if public health and social policy considerations have gained increased importance in the EU during the last decade. Consequently many of the remaining control measures on alcohol availability will most certainly be challenged in the future. In any case, it seems to be impossible that structures like the comprehensive alcohol monopoly system could be rebuilt in any EU member state.

Consumers mostly see alcoholic beverages as ordinary commodities satisfying individual needs in many ways. Because of alcohol information they are or should be aware of the possible harmful effects of their drinking. Most alcohol consumers, however, believe, rightly or wrongly, that they are able to control their own drinking and do not need any direct guidance from the government. Therefore, it is very difficult to legitimate measures restricting alcohol availability by referring to the harmful effects of drinking alcohol. We believe that this kind of situation will continue in the EU member states even in the future. And finally, there are no signs that the alcohol industry would in the future take a more favourable stand towards restrictions on alcohol availability than at present. In summary, it can be projected that alcohol control measures aimed at affecting alcohol availability will in the future become fewer and weaker.

Alcohol-related problems

Despite the decline in alcohol consumption in some EU member states alcohol-related problems have not disappeared. Besides affecting the drinker himself, alcohol consumption often has negative side-effects on third parties: the drinker's family, friends or the local community. Therefore, it is quite common that drinker's environment tries to affect drinking by informal social control, which can take the form of direct personal control or the form of more or less developed social and cultural norms about where, when and how drinking should or should not be practised. In some countries, this traditional way to cope with alcohol-related problems is not any longer working as it used to. As informal alcohol control is losing ground, we may in the future see new and more formalised alcohol control measures trying to restrict alcohol consumption in the workplace, in educational or public care buildings, in government offices, in public transport, in sports or other leisure events as well as in parks and streets.

This tendency may also be seen in legal or official measures aiming to affect certain groups of alcohol consumers: for instance, higher age limits, more alcohol information for pregnant women, attempts to prevent known drunkards or intoxicated persons from buying alcohol, harsher controls of drinking in sports arenas or in other problem-prone leisure situations, increasing the legal responsibility of on-premise places for the behaviour of their patrons, harsher controls of alcohol advertising and sponsorship, banning alcohol sales in gasoline stations and increased enforcement and lower BAC limits in traffic.

There are also other possibilities for regulating alcohol-related problems. One way could be to try to define and find alcoholics or problem drinkers, and then to try to cure them or to educate, persuade or force them to decrease or stop drinking or change their drinking habits. The other potential way is to use alcohol excise duties as an instrument for preventive alcohol policy. The first way, as well as alcohol information and education, is convenient for the majority of the drinking population and for the alcohol industry as these measures do not really affect conventional drinking or alcohol production and trade. These measures are, however, costly to governments, and ultimately to the taxpayers. Increasing excise duties on alcoholic beverages is politically difficult as it decreases the amount of alcohol consumption, production and trade but from the point of view of the government or local authorities it would be cheap to introduce. In most cases it would also be a sure way to collect more tax revenue.

Esa Österberg is an alcohol researcher at the National Research Centre for Welfare and Health, Stakes, Finland. He was a contributor to the ECAS study - European Comparative Alcohol Study - supported by the EC which produced Alcohol in Postwar Europe: Consumption, drinking patterns, consequences and policy responses in 15 European countries.