A whole day of filming for a few minutes of TV airtime. And a remarkable realisation two years later: in 2024 German TV came to Stockholm to learn from Sweden’s alcohol policy and today, the roles have reversed.
More than 60% of the EU’s population now lives in countries making progress on alcohol policy. But the current Swedish government is instead dismantling the model the world once came to study. It’s a reversal that puts the government out of step with the science, with Europe, and with its own people.

Around this time two years ago, I welcomed the crew of the ZDF Heute-Show Special on Alcohol in Stockholm. They came to interview me about alcohol industry interference in German alcohol policy and what Sweden is doing better. Back then, Sweden was the model and Germany far behind. But two years later, the roles are almost reversed.

It was great fun to do the filming. We were in two different locations, including one Systembolaget store I had arranged. We talked about how Swedish alcohol policy works and why the people support it. And Fabian and Lutz, the comedians and hosts of the show also threw the occasional joke my way, including about my family name.

That was two years ago and as I see reminders of the pictures and social media posts from back then, I’m struck by the alcohol policy trajectories in both my home countries Germany and Sweden.

They could not be more different. And more surprising.

I’ve lived in Sweden for 20 years and for the first time in that period, nearly half my life, Germany is doing meaningful work for protecting people from alcohol harm:

  • raising the liquor tax,
  • implementing alcohol-free train stations across the country, and
  • improving the age limit standards. None of this is perfect or the best they could have done. But at least there is progress.

The filming for the Heute-Show Special on Alcohol in Germany was the second time I could welcome German journalists to discuss the Swedish alcohol policy model. In 2016, we filmed for a major documentary with journalist Sanaz Saleh-Ebrahimi. The documentary also aired on ZDF and won TV awards. And over the years, we welcomed German politicians to show how the Swedish alcohol policy model works. 

Meanwhile in Sweden, the current government has used the last nearly four years to disband a popular, evidence-based, and successful alcohol policy model. They have done so against the people’s will, against the science, and against the trajectories of other European countries. Germany isn’t alone in making alcohol policy progress. Poland, Spain, Belgium, Czechia, Latvia, Luxembourg, and Slovenia are all countries that have also implemented and are working to implement alcohol policy improvements. This is in addition to Ireland, Lithuania, Estonia, and France, countries already known for their alcohol policy successes.

Together, that’s more than 270 million people or more than 60% of people in the EU who are now living in countries that move to prevent alcohol harm.

60%
People in the EU living in countries with alcohol policy progress
More than 270 million people or more than 60% of people in the EU are now living in countries that make alcohol policy progress.

As I think back to the day of filming, the interview questions and chats during breaks, I’m struck by this realisation: Since German TV was here last to talk with me about Swedish alcohol policy, the Swedish government has gone the completely wrong way. The current government lowered alcohol taxes, even though alcohol harms cost Swedish society ca. €10 billion every year. They have taken decisions to erode the alcohol law to make alcohol more available even though wider alcohol availability fuels violence in public places and in homes. Now alcohol can even be sold at hairdressers. They have also attacked and eroded the alcohol retail monopoly, even though it is one of the most trusted public institutions in Swedish society and the cornerstone of the successful alcohol policy model. And the political parties of this current government are discussing lowering the legal age limit.

Sweden: First Data on Alcohol “Farm Sales” Confirm Public Health Warnings – Buyers Are Younger and Use More Alcohol
Alcohol Retail Monopoly Ranks Among Sweden’s Most Trusted Institutions – Higher Than NATO
Swedish Government Removes Food Requirement for Alcohol Serving Based on False Finnish Data

Most countries in Europe, including the EU’s biggest states with the most aggressive alcohol industry lobbies, are going in the completely opposite direction. They go towards public health action on alcohol harm.

How can it be that the current Swedish government is so out of step? They are out of step with the world around them. They are out of step with their own population. And they are out of step with the science on which alcohol policy measures create safety in homes and public places; which alcohol policies ease the burden on the health and care systems; and which alcohol policies contribute to economic prosperity.

It is the very same alcohol policy solutions that Sweden already had! It is those that people come here to study and learn about. It is those that science has proven are successful for decades. It is those that many countries in Europe are now implementing. It is those that Swedish people support.

It means a lot to me to share insights with journalists, politicians, and the people in Germany about how Sweden works (increasingly used to work) to protect its people from predictable alcohol harms. That alcohol harm is predictable is shown by what the current Swedish government is doing in worsening the country’s alcohol policy. It also means that alcohol harm is a political decision – preventing it or letting it increase.

So as I think about the filming memories and the work behind it, I’m also wishing Swedish journalists would tell the story of what European countries are doing and what Sweden can do better now to protect the its people from the harms alcohol companies are causing in Sweden.