Alcohol policy strategies and public health policy at an EU-level: The case of alcopops 1

Abstract

Caroline Sutton: Alcohol policy strategies and public health policy at an EU-level. The case of alcopops

During the 1990s Nordic alcohol researchers have debated the effects of integration and cooperation with the European Union on Nordic alcohol policies. As part of this debate, some researchers have suggested that a Nordic, comprehensive alcohol policy based on public health concerns might be possible to pursue at an EU level. In this article, the authors move beyond the question of whether such a policy can be pursued, and explore instead the consequences of pursuing legislation through the public health sector of the EU.

Analysis begins with an overview of public health policy evolution in the EU, within which alcohol policy developments to date are placed. It is noted that there was no official mandate for action in this field until 1993. The public health sector is a new policy arena within the union. Moreover, it is a sector in which EU policy-making is limited to encouraging trans-state cooperation. Legislative regulation is explicitly forbidden. In this context the Commission has created alternative venues for political action. The authors identify these as: the construction of ‘European phenomena’ through supporting the accumulation of ‘European knowledge’, support to developing interest groups, public opinion building, and the construction of practical competence.

The alcopops case illustrates both general policy-making in the EU as well as the more specific character of public health policy The most important observation is that despite initial hopes that EU legislation could be introduced to limit demand for the beverages, once the issue became defined as an object of public health policy, EU action was limited to the creation of voluntary recommendations to member states. The authors conclude that advocates of a restrictive, regulatory policy should reconsider the link between the Nordic perspective on alcohol as a public health issue and the pursuit of alcohol legislation for the European Union. A more segmented approach to alcohol policy and a more flexible framework for defining the problem could provide a more fertile base for the introduction of legislative measures to control alcohol harm.