Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-10-21-Speech-3-286"
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"en.20091021.11.3-286"2
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"Thank you, Mrs Hedh. I would like to begin by reminding Mrs Hedh that the Swedish Presidency has put alcohol and health high on the agenda as an important aspect in implementing the EU strategy to support Member States in reducing alcohol-related harm.
Against this background, we have already held three major events. The first was the informal meeting of health ministers in Jönköping in July, where the sale and marketing of alcoholic drinks and how they influence the alcohol consumption of young people were given particular attention. The second event was an Expert Conference on Alcohol and Health in Stockholm on 21–22 September aimed at supporting a sustainable, long-term and comprehensive strategy within the EU with regard to alcohol. More than 450 people participated from, in principle, all of the EU Member States and the participants lent very strong support to the Swedish priorities in the area of alcohol and health.
The third event was the Global Expert Meeting on Alcohol, Health and Social Development held on 23 September. This event was organised by the Swedish Presidency in cooperation with Sida (the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) and the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services and was sponsored by the World Health Organisation. The aim was to contribute to a global strategy when the World Health Assembly meets in May next year. At this meeting, new findings were presented concerning the link between the harmful use of alcohol, social development and the spread of infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, an important link that is worth taking note of.
Thus, with regard to the question ‘will the Swedish Presidency seek to ensure that the strategy is assessed without delay?’ the answer is yes; adoption of a strategy within the EU in 2006 was an important step. Through its adoption, the Commission recognised alcohol as one of the key factors for determining health within the EU and also the fact that the EU is responsible for tackling risky and harmful alcohol consumption. This was reinforced further by support from all of the EU’s health ministers in conclusions reached in November 2006.
Since 1 January 2007, the Commission has been following the trends in alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm as well as the changes in policy within the EU. Even though we have seen progress in many areas, there has been far too little time to assess the full scale of the impact on health of alcohol policy and drinking habits. The first report from the Commission, which was tabled at the expert conference a few weeks ago, was a status report in respect of the EU’s alcohol strategy. It is an interim report ahead of the final report that is to be tabled in 2012.
The Presidency will, of course, go through this status report and consider the results of the Expert Conference on Alcohol and Health. We will monitor progress. We have also funded a number of new studies with a view to ensuring that alcohol remains high on the EU’s agenda. One of the studies we are funding will examine the effect that the marketing of alcohol has on young people, another will look at the impact of alcohol on elderly people in 10 different EU Member States and yet another will investigate the effect that cross-border trade has on national alcohol policy.
In our draft conclusions on alcohol and health, which are currently under discussion in the Council’s working group, we propose that the Commission should be urged to start to analyse and seek out priorities for the next phase of the work on alcohol and health, to emphasise the fact that we need to look at the period beyond 2012 when the assessment and the current alcohol strategy will be concluded. Based on this debate, the Presidency aims to adopt Council conclusions to support an alcohol strategy in December 2009."@en1
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