Answer given by Mr Kyprianou on behalf of the Commission on alcohol harm

On 24 October 2006, the Commission adopted a Communication to the Council, the Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on an EU strategy to support Member States in reducing alcohol related harm.

This strategy addresses the adverse health effects related to harmful and hazardous alcohol consumption, to which the Honourable Member refers, as well as the related social and economic consequences.

Concretely, in cooperation with Member States and stakeholders, the Commission will develop strategies aimed at reducing alcohol related harm. Information and education activities, including media campaigns, may well be part of these activities. Furthermore, through its Public Health Programme, the Commission will support projects that will contribute to reducing alcohol-related harm in the EU, and especially the harm suffered by children and young people, as well as gathering and disseminating data.

The European Alcohol and Health Forum, which was foreseen in the Communication and established on 7 June 2007, is a common platform for action. Its members are economic operators and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that formally commit to devoting time and resources to adopt meaningful actions to prevent alcohol-related harm. Member States, the Parliament and the other EU Institutions, the World Health Organisation and the International Organisation of Vine and Wine participate as observers.

Within the framework of the Forum, the Commission services will also work with stakeholders to create sustained momentum for co-operation on responsible commercial communication and sales. The main aim will be to support EU and national/local government actions to prevent irresponsible marketing of alcoholic beverages, and examine data about trends in advertising. One aim will be to reach agreement with stakeholders on a code of commercial communication implemented at national and EU level.

While the Forum aims at encouraging industry and NGO stakeholders to develop concrete action on the ground, policy coordination and development will be brought forward within the Committee on National Policy and Action, which will be composed of Member State representatives and experts. The Permanent Representatives of the Member States will be invited, in the coming weeks, to nominate the members of this Committee, which will build on the work of the former Working Group on Alcohol and Health. This Committee will, inter alia, serve to shape and monitor Member States' implementation of the EU Alcohol Strategy.

Instruments such as AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test) are tools that can be used, for example, by general practitioners for brief interventions. The strategy underlines the importance of this kind of intervention, without specifying the use of a particular methodology – this choice should be left to the actors involved. The Forum can be expected to make further contributions to the more widespread use of such interventions, and the further development of good practice in this area can also be addressed within the Committee on National Policy and Action. The Commission would also like to point out that the Primary Health Care European Project on Alcohol (PHEPA project), which was co-funded by the Public Health programme, prepared European guidelines and recommendations on brief treatment interventions, together with a European training programme for health care providers and country strategies in 20 European countries.

The Commission will report regularly on the implementation of measures to tackle harmful and hazardous alcohol consumption, as described in this Communication, as well as on the impact of the EU strategy set out in this Communication; this will be based on regular reporting from the Member States on the implementation of the relevant measures.