Alcohol: The European Dimension Robert Madelin Director General Health and Consumer Protection European Commission Scotland's Future Forum: Fresh Perspectives on Alcohol & Drugs Alcohol Industry Seminar Edinburgh, 7 February 2008

2/24 a European issue consumption levels going down across Europe - but Europe still is region with highest alcohol consumption in the world

3/24 a European issue from: P. Anderson, B. Baumberg: Alcohol in Europe, 2006

4/24 a European issue consumption levels going down across Europe - but Europe still is region with highest alcohol consumption in the world moreover, decrease in consumption is levelling off

5/24 a European issue from: P. Anderson, B. Baumberg: Alcohol in Europe, 2006

6/24 a European issue consumption levels going down across Europe - but Europe still is region with highest alcohol consumption in the world moreover, decrease in consumption is levelling off most countries in EU face similar problems (“convergence of harm”): –under-age drinking –binge drinking –drink-driving…

7/24 binge drinking (15–16 year old students) European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) (15–16 year old students) ESPAD Report 2003: Proportion of all students who reported “binge drinking” (> 5 drinks in a row) 3 times or more during the last 30 days UK: boys 26% girls 29%

8/24 drunk at age 13 or younger European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) (15–16 year old students) ESPAD Report 2003: Proportion of all students who have been drunk at the age of 13 or younger UK: boys 36% girls 35%

9/24 EU action on a key health determinant 7,5% of all ill health and early death in EU 195,000 premature deaths per year in EU 60 acute or chronic diseases caused by excessive alcohol consumption up to 25% of male premature deaths and up to 10% of female premature deaths caused by excessive alcohol consumption

10/24 Disease burden (DALYs, 2000) Developed Countries number of Disability-Adjusted Life Years lost source: WHO (Report on Global Burden of Disease)

11/24 total tangible costs – €125bn economic cost of alcohol in Europe from: P. Anderson, B. Baumberg: Alcohol in Europe, 2006

12/24 Alcohol Communication 2006 goals: 1)Protect young people, children and the unborn child 2)Reduce injuries and deaths from alcohol-related road traffic accidents 3)Prevent alcohol-related harm among adults and reduce the negative impact on the workplace 4)Inform, educate and raise awareness on the impact of harmful and hazardous alcohol consumption, and on appropriate consumption patterns 5)Develop, support and maintain a common evidence base

13/24 Eurobarometer survey (2007) citizens support action to address alcohol harm: –44% of EU citizens believe that public authorities have to intervene in order to protect individuals from alcohol related harm (UK: 39%) –77% (UK: 75%) agree to put warnings on alcohol bottles and adverts with the purpose to warn pregnant women and drivers of dangers of drinking alcohol –73% (UK: 74%) agree to lower blood alcohol level (0.2 g/l) for young and novice drivers –80% (UK: 82%): “random police alcohol checks would reduce alcohol consumption before driving” –87% (UK: 85%) agree that selling and serving alcohol to people under the age of 18 years should be banned –76% (UK: 71%) agree that alcohol advertising targeting young people should be banned

14/24 the way forward strong push for action needed to take advantage of improving environment: –action in broad range of areas –action by great variety of stakeholders –action at all levels, from local to global –partnerships EU approach – two main alleys: –cooperation with Member States:  coordination of government-driven policies  review national and regional alcohol policy development – dissemination of best practice –stakeholder partnership approach:  multi-stakeholder platform “European Alcohol and Health Forum”

15/24 European Alcohol and Health Forum

16/24 key elements Meaning Vision Actors Monitoring & Evaluation Relevance Coherence Roots

17/24 European Alcohol and Health Forum

18/24 European Alcohol and Health Forum overall objective: –provide common platform for all interested stakeholders at EU level willing to step up actions aimed at reducing alcohol harm main areas to be addressed: –under age drinking –information on effect of harmful drinking –responsible drinking/promote behavioural changes –consumer information –commercial communication

19/24 European Alcohol and Health Forum: participants observers: WHO, EU Institutions, Member States, IOVW advertisers, broadcasters, publishers, other media other Commission services consumer and health NGOs, medical professions alcohol producers, wholesalers, retailers, caterers, insurers European Alcohol and Health Forum

20/24 European Alcohol and Health Forum: eligibility umbrella organisations operating at a European level –capable of playing active role in reducing alcohol- related harm in EU –willing to engage in concrete and verifiable commitments organisations operating at national or sub- national level, or individual companies –willing to engage in concrete and verifiable commitments –European-level umbrella organisation or federation needs to be Forum member 50 Founding Members at Forum launch, 54 at present

21/24 European Alcohol and Health Forum: commitments members formally and publicly commit to concrete action commitments to reflect Forum members’ objectives and resources commitments to indicate level of relevant current activities as baseline members to devote increasing level of effort beyond baseline to commitments commitments to indicate measurable objectives all commitments feed into public data base

22/24 European Alcohol and Health Forum: monitoring, evaluation commitments monitored + evaluated in transparent, participative and accountable way outside involvement in reviewing progress and outcomes (to create trust in process) monitoring and evaluation plan for each commitment –in line with agreed monitoring guide –reports on input, output and outcomes of commitments (publicly available) periodic Commission reports on Forum progress

23/24 European Alcohol and Health Forum: commitments overview 75 commitments received so far main areas targeted: –develop information and education programmes on the effect of harmful drinking (28) –better cooperation/actions on responsible commercial communication and sales (26) –develop information and education programmes on responsible patterns of consumption (19) main countries targeted: –EU-level: 29 –country level: United Kingdom: 17; France: 15; Germany: 15; Italy: 14; Netherlands: 14; Poland: 12; Sweden: 11 main target groups: –young people (18-25): 15 (7 particularly on young women) –under age drinkers: 5

24/24 European Alcohol and Health Forum: structure European Alcohol and Health Forum Open Forum Science Group Task Force on youth-specific aspects of alcohol Task Force on Marketing Communication Plenary Session

25/24 European strategy European Alcohol and Health Forum Open Forum Science Group Task Force on youth-specific aspects of alcohol Task Force on Marketing Communication Implementing the Commission Communication Committee on National Policy and Action Committee on Data Collection, Indicators and Definitions Health in other policies Plenary Session

26/24 outlook long-term objective: –change attitudes towards irresponsible drinking across societies: being drunk should no longer be socially acceptable (similar to tobacco, where smoking seems to be less and less socially accepted)