Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-05-15-Speech-2-162"
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"en.20010515.6.2-162"2
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"Mr President, combating alcohol-related harm is a public health priority in many Member States and also at EU level. This is clearly reflected in the draft of the future Public Health Action Programme where inappropriate use of alcohol is mentioned as one of the key health determinants to be tackled. Over the last couple of years, there has been growing evidence that alcohol consumption by young people and the corresponding health and social problems have increased alarmingly. This is why the Commission took the initiative to address the problems caused by the drinking of alcohol by young people in the form of a Council recommendation which is a valid instrument foreseen under the public health article of the Treaty, namely Article 152.
The broad discussions which we held during the last three years with the Member States, experts and stakeholders clearly show that the drinking behaviour of young people is increasingly similar throughout the European Union and that Community action is therefore justified and appropriate. I have been very pleased to learn that in the Council working group and in COREPER the Member States have welcomed this initiative very positively. I therefore believe that this is an issue for the European Union at European level, and not just an issue at Member State level.
I fully agree with those who say that this issue is different from tobacco. It must be distinguished from tobacco and indeed also drugs. It has been mentioned in the contributions this afternoon that we dealt with this yesterday in the directive that we discussed, and that is dealt with on an EU-wide basis. But there are many issues relating to alcohol consumption that must be addressed on an EU-wide basis also. For instance, advertising comes to mind. The codes of conduct that are contained in the television without frontiers legislation: are they being fully and properly complied with? These codes of conduct operate on an EU-wide basis. The advertising operates on an EU-wide basis, and as has already been stated by one of the honourable Members, this is a recommendation. It is not a directive or a regulation. I am equally pleased that the discussion in the European Parliament confirms our concerns and the way to tackle them. I welcome Parliament's intention to support the Commission's approach and to strengthen the proposal through the large number of very constructive amendments. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the rapporteur, Mrs Stihler, and the Committee on the Environment for their constructive work.
On this basis the Commission can accept Amendment Nos 1, 8, 10, 11, 18, 27, 30, 31 and 34. There are also a number of amendments which contain very valid ideas which can only be accepted by the Commission in a redrafted form to make them fit into the proposal structure and to keep the text consistent. I am speaking about Amendment Nos 7, 13, 15, 17, 21, 22, 24, 33, 35, 38, 39, 40, 42, 49, 50, 51 and 52. A range of Parliament's amendments suggest to enlarge the scope of the recommendation by proposing broader aspects of alcohol policy or concrete regulatory steps. I think that we should stick to the proposed approach which is, at this stage, to intensify health promotion and education efforts and to bring the producers and retailers to act responsibly. During the implementation of the recommendation and in the framework of the future debates on a strategic approach of the Community to reduce alcohol-related harm there will be room to discuss all aspects which could be relevant for an effective alcohol policy.
The following amendments can therefore not be accepted for the purpose of the recommendation, but the Commission will take account of their contents in the future strategy approach: these are Amendment Nos 5, 6, 14, 26, 29, 41, 44, 45, 47, 48, 53, 54, 55 and 56. In relation to Amendment No 53 I would draw the House's attention to Directive 79/112 on the labelling of foodstuffs which is a piece of legislation that is within my competence and of course will be kept under review and looked at in the context of the remarks that have been made by colleagues and of the other advice that I get in relation to the labelling of alcohol.
Some of the amendments cannot be accepted because they propose to change a quotation from a legal text and I refer to Amendment Nos 2, 3 and 4. Others are unnecessary because the proposed subject is already covered in the proposal and I refer here to numbers 19, 25, 32 and 46. The subject matters of Amendment Nos 20 and 37 refer to issues which are too specific to be taken explicitly on board, although in principle they fall under the thematic approach of the proposal. Concerning Amendment No 23, the whole recommendation is about alcohol consumption by young people. The Commission believes it to be very important to mention drink-driving specifically. For this reason the amendment is not acceptable. Amendment No 36 cannot be accepted because of definition problems for the purpose of this recommendation. The age ban has not been defined by using the term under-age, and different legislation applies in different Member States. Amendment No 28 conflicts with the medical advice the Commission has received. Amendment No 43 would remove an important aspect of future codes of conduct and therefore cannot be accepted either. Some amendments can be partially accepted by the Commission. In Amendment No 9 the first two sentences cannot be accepted because assessment will have to cover all aspects and not just a shortlist of measures. It makes sense however to accept the reference to the regional and local level. The changes proposed in Amendment No 12 highlighting only some alcohol policy aspects and not others would be misleading and cannot therefore be accepted, except a reference to self-esteem by young people which the Commission can of course accept. In Amendment No 16 the Commission cannot accept mention of only certain specific aspects for evaluation as this would be counter-productive. However, references to good practices and to the role of the medical practitioners are acceptable.
I look forward to seeing the recommendation being implemented because there is no doubt that this will be an excellent basis for working jointly towards a common aim, to better protect our young people, especially children and adolescents."@en1
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