Swedish Presidency
Major Alcohol Conference in Stockholm

On Monday 21 September, the European Union Swedish Presidency began a two-day expert conference on alcohol and health. Around 450 participants from EU institutions and Member States, as well as from a range of stakeholder organisations, gathered at Norra Latin Conference Centre in Stockholm.

The backdrop to the conference was the unacceptably high level of alcohol-related harm in the EU, one of the major issues Sweden has chosen to highlight during its Presidency. One of the messages of the Swedish Presidency is that effective methods exist for preventing and reducing the harm caused by alcohol, and, used properly, these methods could save thousands of lives and give increased protection to children and young people.

A welcome from young people at the Opening Ceremony

The event was designed to support the Alcohol Strategy adopted by the Commission and the Council of the European Union in 2006. Opening the conference, Maria Larsson, Swedish Minister for Elderly Care and Public Health said:

“We need to increase our efforts and raise the degree of awareness to a higher level. Harmful drinking is not just a problem for the individual. It is also a problem for the family, health and medical services and the whole of society. The number one goal of the EU Alcohol Strategy is to protect children, young people and unborn children from alcohol-related harm.”

The protection of children was the theme of the first day of the conference. “Exposure to alcohol during fetal life may disturb the fine tuning that the wiring of the brain goes through at different levels,” said Professor Hugo Lagercrantz, who introduced the section of the conference concerned with ways to protect the unborn child.

Robert Madelin, Director- General of the European Commission’s Directorate General for Health and Consumer Affairs (SANCO), concluded this part of the conference. “Europe is still the region with the highest alcohol consumption in the world,” he said. “A well-balanced mix of effective methods is needed to reduce alcohol harm in the EU. One of the ingredients in this mix is restrictions. Another is increased involvement on the part of economic actors.”

The afternoon conference theme was ways of protecting children and young people from different forms of alcohol commercial communication. “Evidence shows that alcohol marketing increases the likelihood that adolescents will start to use alcohol, and to drink more if they are already drinking,” said public health consultant Dr Peter Anderson. The afternoon programme ended with a round table discussion on the topic ‘Are we doing enough to protect children and young people?’ led by Robert Madelin, in which Maria Larsson also participated.