Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-09-04-Speech-2-317"
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is very satisfying to see the culmination and conclusion of such an important report. I should like to offer my warmest thanks to colleagues, the shadow rapporteurs, the groups and the officials who have made this outcome possible.
The European Union can try to stimulate, offer incentives for, promote and suggest the adoption of some of these measures. One of the issues on which consensus was lacking was undoubtedly the question of labelling to highlight the risks and dangers of excessive alcohol consumption. On a personal level, I feel that I should ask the Commission for a detailed study from which the various systems of information and communication, including labelling, can be drawn up.
In conclusion, the strategy, as amended by Parliament, could provide substantial added value over individual national policies, especially as it would be possible to direct the work of the Member States towards common objectives.
In the text of the report, I have tried above all to tackle this issue in a balanced and common-sense way, avoiding any demonisation of moderate alcohol consumption in order to take account of the centuries-old tradition of responsible drinking, and by trying to suggest measures likely to counter the problems which are unfortunately now so common in Europe and throughout the world. I should like to thank everyone for their support and cooperation.
Reducing harmful alcohol consumption has in recent years become one of the priorities of health and social policies throughout the world, and the European Union is playing its part here too. The European Commission gave us a text that contained a great deal of food for thought, which we have tried to build on and supplement.
Examination of the harm caused by alcohol abuse gave an extremely bleak and worrying picture: very high mortality among young people, in particular as a result of road accidents, ill-treatment in the family, growing numbers of cases of foetal alcohol syndrome, increasingly widespread liver disease and alcohol dependence, among young people as well, in all the Member States. The costs of health treatment amount in Europe to EUR 17 billion, alongside the EUR 5 billion spent on treatment and prevention.
It should be stressed that it is alcohol abuse that is the problem; alcohol consumption cannot be demonised per se since it is part of the culture, history and traditions of many Member States and the quality of some alcohol products in many cases makes them the jewel in the crown of the producer countries. The employment aspect should not be forgotten either. It is estimated that alcohol production and processing provides jobs for over a million people in Europe.
The European Commission, which I thank, presented a communication focusing on a number of priorities which we have taken up while attempting to extend their scope through various key points: in-depth examination of the problem of consumption by young people, comprehensive provision of information, assistance and prevention, better public information campaigns making the community aware of the risks that they run when they consume alcohol irresponsibly, and examination of the problems of violence, especially domestic, connected with alcohol consumption.
In particular, measures to counter the harm resulting from abuse include: awareness-raising and risk education campaigns in schools, targeted on parents as well, making more public transport available as an alternative to private transport for people leaving night-time venues and support for initiatives by individual States focusing on the ‘don’t drink and drive’ principle, a European prize for the best information campaign run in schools, financial support for the dissemination of instruments enabling people themselves to monitor their blood alcohol content, and strict action against ‘alcopops’.
Another of the innovative points of the report, which has been welcomed by the Commission, is the idea of using the so-called brief intervention to disseminate a responsible and informed approach to alcohol consumption. General practitioners, through the daily and direct relationship that they have with patients, could be a valuable resource for identifying alcohol-related problems even before patients themselves become aware of them: a simple questionnaire, known as an audit, which is already being tried out in some European cities, could supplement such personal action.
Other measures in particular include the promotion of measures to reduce the road accidents caused by alcohol abuse, for instance by stepping up checks on drink-driving, disseminating tests enabling people themselves to monitor their blood alcohol content, offering incentives for ‘designated-driver’ programmes, lowering admissible blood alcohol contents and introducing harsher penalties for drink-drivers.
The report proposes, and here it seems to have the support of all the European Parliament’s groups, a blood alcohol content limit which is as close as possible to 0 for new drivers, in order to provide a concrete foundation for the strategy which goes beyond the simple statement of principle and the caution shown by the Commission in its text, even though many of the measures that could be adopted to counter alcohol abuse come within the competence of the individual States, especially measures in the health and safety field."@en1
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