A new report, published by IOGT-NTO and Movendi International, maps and describes the alcohol industry in the EU. It exposes that Big Alcohol operates a large lobby apparatus to target and interfere in EU institutions and policy processes.
The results show that the alcohol industry has met with the EU Commission 270 times between 2014 – 2022, compared to 14 meetings with civil society.
The results are alarming, but expected,” says Emil Juslin, European Policy Officer at IOGT-NTO.
The alcohol industry is still getting uncritically invited to consult on public health policy despite the fact that they have an inherent conflict of interest since they profit from a product that causes considerable harm to the people of Europe.”
Emil Juslin, European Policy Officer, IOGT-NTO
The report called “Uncorking Big Alcohol in the EU” further describes and discusses the practices of the alcohol industry in EU policy. It describes an industry that takes every opportunity to dilute health messages as well as undermine or stall progress on effective health policy.
The results are very similar to how the industry acts nationally and is also very similar to how Big Tobacco acts. It also shows why the alcohol industry should not be consulted on health policy. Inviting the tobacco industry to discuss public health policy today would be seen as absurd. Unfortunately, the alcohol industry is still not seen with the same critical eye,” says Mr Juslin.
Emil Juslin, European Policy Officer, IOGT-NTO
The report concludes that the large industry presence likely steers European health policy away from health objectives in favour of commercial interests.
Companies simply have more resources to put into lobbying, as they see it as an investment that they can get a return on if a policy turns out well.
Civil society organisations are already underfunded and it is therefore very hard to match the lobbying efforts of the industry. This is a serious risk if the situation is left unanswered since fringe commercial interests get a stronger voice than the voice for the well-being of the people,” explains Mr Juslin, as per IOGT-NTO press release.
Key Facts
- Big Alcohol met with top-level EU Commission officials 270 times between 2014-2022.
- During the same time period civil society had only 14 meetings.
- The alcohol industry estimates that they spend over €9 million on EU lobbying every year.
- The alcohol industry is estimated to have the equivalent of 95 full-time lobbyists working on lobbying the EU institutions.
- This can be compared to 14,5 from public health NGOs.
- Observations of the industry’s lobbying strategies show that Big Alcohol aims to take up space in policy debates, shift focus from health issues and undermine science and evidence-based policy solutions.
The lobbying bonanza in Brussels
Due to the importance of European markets for the sales of alcoholic products, the European Union has become a central arena for lobby efforts from the alcohol industry. Through multiple and different kinds of lobby and other front groups, alcohol companies are interfering in the development of alcohol policy solutions, affecting outcomes of policy processes to favor their private profits interests instead of the health and well-being of the people living in the European Union.
Alcohol industry lobby interference targets both EU-level policies as well as the alcohol laws and regulations of individual Member States.
Through heavily funded lobby-efforts on the EU level, alcohol companies and their front groups are actively working to undermine policy solutions that promote and protect the public interest, such as public health and safety policies, as well as sustainable agriculture and consumer information policies.
The analysis of the alcohol lobby presence in the EU arena shows that the narrow interests of alcohol companies dominate policy discussions to the detriment of the public interest, that get drowned out,” says Kristina Sperkova, International President of Movendi International.
The report illustrates a failure of EU institutions and policy makers to protect public policy making from special interests interference.
The alcohol industry is given a much larger number of opportunities to push their interests and lobby high-level EU officials. But this distorts the recognition of the magnitude and extent of the harm caused by the products and practices of the alcohol industry.”
Kristina Sperkova, International President, Movendi International
The alcohol industry works to take up as much space as possible in the alcohol policy debate, and to set the agenda for what is discussed and how it is discussed. In their discourse against the public health concerns on alcohol they employ soft tactics, such as spurring doubt about existing public health research, stating that specific efforts to reduce alcohol harm are disproportionate, or attempting to distract the debate away from the harmful effects alcohol causes. Despite an obvious conflict of interest due to their profit motives, the industry is still being consulted on public health matters. The alcohol industry has a real influence over alcohol policy in the EU, which has long been, and remains, a massive obstacle for an effective European alcohol policy.
Movendi International and IOGT-NTO are monitoring and documenting the lobbying practices of alcohol companies in Brussels, the heart of EU policy making, as well as in EU Member States. A resource page and database of more than 200 articles is exposing the unethical lobbying practices in the European Union and its member states, since 2004.
This database complements the report and illustrates the findings of the report by revealing concrete cases of alcohol industry interference on both EU level and in EU Member States.
For example, at the EU level the database provides examples of alcohol industry interference against alcohol health warning labels and the EU healthy food strategy.
And on the country level, the database provides examples of different lobbying strategies and arguments deployed by Big Alcohol to undermine existing and well-functioning alcohol policy systems in Sweden, Finland, and Lithuania; to derail alcohol policy development efforts in the Netherlands; to push for harmful policies such as lowering the beer tax in Germany; and examples of countries where the alcohol industry has captured democratic institutions and sabotages that they respond to the public interest, as in France and the United Kingdom.
The Alcohol Issues Podcast also provides episodes that expose concrete examples of alcohol industry interference, such as “Big Alcohol’s Attack on the EU’s Beating Cancer Plan” and “How Big Alcohol Derails Alcohol Prevention Efforts in the Netherlands”.
Movendi International, together with IOGT-NTO, is monitoring, documenting, exposing, and counter-acting the unethic
The analysis of the alcohol lobby presence in the EU arena shows that the narrow interests of alcohol companies dominate policy discussions to the detriment of the public interest, that get drowned out,” says Kristina Sperkova, International President of Movendi International.
The report illustrates a failure of EU institutions and policy makers to protect public policy making from special interests interference.
The alcohol industry is given a much larger number of opportunities to push their interests and lobby high-level EU officials. But this distorts the recognition of the magnitude and extent of the harm caused by the products and practices of the alcohol industry.”
al practices of the alcohol industry.
The conceptualize the strategies that alcohol companies and their front groups employ to shape people’s understanding of alcohol harm and its root causes, to influence people’s expectations and associations around alcohol products, and to promote the role alcohol should play in people’s lives and communities. The pervasive impact of alcohol industry strategies on all aspects of society and people’s lives can be illustrated by the DUBIOUS FIVE.
The DUBIOUS FIVE
- CORPORATE POLITICAL INTERFERENCE: Alcohol industry activity to eliminate any alcohol policy effort threatening sales, profits.
- PROMOTION: Alcohol industry activity to drive alcohol availability (4 dimensions), perpetuate the alcohol norm and normalize alcohol in all aspects of life.
- SABOTAGE: Alcohol industry activity to avoid, violate, and/ or undermine society’s laws and institutions; and alcohol industry tactics to block public institutions to operate in/ respond to the public interest.
- MANIPULATION = Alcohol industry activity to control, protect, cultivate its image (brand value)
- DECEPTION = Everything the alcohol industry does to hinder public recognition of the real effects of alcohol
The products and practices of alcohol companies are causing serious harm to people and communities in Europe,” says Kristina Sperkova, International President of Movendi International.
The report reveals how close EU-officials are to the interests of alcohol companies and how far away from the interests of people and communities in the EU. That is why this is a wake up call. Europe faces the heaviest alcohol burden in the world and yet the alcohol industry gets to roam the corridors in Brussels. We need a paradigm shift: a new focus on the human right to health and and safety and the responsibility of governments and EU institutions to protect people from the harms caused by alcohol companies.”
Kristina Sperkova, International President, Movendi International.
