Covers EU evolution and Treaty Reform, Comitology and covers a few policy areas with reference to alcohol

3. Section I: From Rome to Lisbon

8. Reform treaty of 2007 - institutions Council decisions needs double majority (55% of member states and 65% of the EU's). But this is delayed until 2014 and the ‘Ioannina clause’ allows a transition period until 2017 President of the Council no longer rotates, one person holds this role for a two-and-a-half years renewable term College of Commissioners drops from 27 to 15 by 2014; MEPs limited to maximum of 750 (> 6 and < 96 per country), plus the Parliament President (750+1) EU has legal personality Exit clause was introduced making it possible to leave the EU.

9. Reform treaty of 2007 - policies Strengthens national parliaments can raise objections against draft EU legislation (so-called orange card) as a reinforced control mechanism for the principle of subsidiarity; QMV extended voting to 40 policy areas, especially those relating to as asylum, immigration, police cooperation and judicial co-operation in criminal matters; Reference to new challenges, such as globalisation, climate change and energy security UK gets some opt-outs (asylum, criminal justice) Charter of Fundamental Rights replaced by a short cross-reference with the same legal value but will not be binding in the UK and Poland.

21. Uncovering the lobbying In late 2006 , MEP Caroline Lucas asked the Commission to reveal how many official and unofficial meetings took place with alcohol industry lobbyists. Answer: Not possible without an expensive and disproportionately difficult admin job. November 2007 , CFI rules that the Commission cannot use privacy laws to hide the identity of lobbyists it meets. Case brought by the German beer industry to find out who influenced the Commission to drop an investigation into whether a UK law limiting certain beer imports was compatible with EU law.

22. Multiple points of entry EU Institutions Drinks Trade association National Chambers of Commerce EP interest group (beer) Food industry trade association Business trade association Retail trade associations Alcohol and Health Forum Advisory Committees for EU agencies Advertising Self Regulation bodies Advertiser and Brand networks Social Aspect organisations Think-tanks

34. Private sector and Government representatives national experts Drafting phase (> 1350) Advisory committees Expert groups Scientific committees Social dialogue committees (47-50) Set up by the European Commission Adoption phase (+/-400) COREPER I and II Specialised Committees Working groups Set up by the Council, Commission and the Parliament 30-40 decisions a year - signed off by the Council Implementation phase (+/-400) * Regulatory * Management * Advisory Run by the Commission but participants from Member States 3-4,000 execution decisions annually

35. How many Committees? Nobody knows for certain ! The European Training Institute suggest there are more than 2,000 committees. In 2004, the Commission sent MEP Jens-Peter Bonde a list with more than 3,000 groups which it later corrected to approximately 1,500. Only 1,535 groups appear in the European Commission’s two online registers. In 2007, the Parliament threatened to block travel reimbursement for these groups unless there was full transparency. (Source: CorporateEurope.org)

38. The key role of Regulatory Committees The Commission estimates that 99.5 per cent of implementing measures are adopted following the agreement of the committees without reference to the Council. The latest report available from the Commission on the working of committees during 2003 (OJ C 65 17.3.2005) records only one example of a measure being referred to the Council and subsequently adopted by the Commission (authorisation of the placing on the market of sweet corn from genetically modified maize Bt11). This compares with 2,768 instruments adopted by the Commission in 2003.

44. Section V: Alcohol in EU policies and initiatives EC Communication on alcohol and health EU Road Safety programme Common Agricultural Policy and wine reform Food labelling legislation and alcohol DAPHNE programme to prevent violence against women and children

46. DAPHNE, 50 million €, 2004-2008 Action to prevent violence against children, young people and women : the DAPHNE programme Designed to prevent and combat all forms of violence against children, young people and women. Three target groups have been clearly identified. These are children (up to the age of 18), young people (12-25 years old) and women. All types of violence and all aspects of this phenomenon are covered, whether occurring in public or in private. It includes violence in the family, in schools and other educational institutions or in the workplace, commercial sexual exploitation, genital mutilation and human trafficking.

47. Mopping up the wine lake The EU is the world's biggest producer, consumer, exporter and importer of wine. The Common Market Organisation (CMO) for wine was last reformed in 1999. € 1.3 billion a year of EU subsidies including € 14 million on marketing and promotion of wines and € 500 million on “crisis distillation” turning surplus wine into industrial alcohol and biofuels . The EU has 45 % of the world’s vineyard land. France, Italy and Spain are not only the EU's but the world's top producers by volume. Then Germany, Portugal, Hungary, Greece, Austria, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Cyprus. There has been consistent overproduction, mostly poor quality table wine. The surplus wine lake is now estimated at 1.5bn litres, or enough for every European Union citizen to take roughly four free bottles each. The Commission proposes 1/8 vineyards to be dug up over 5 years.

48. Drink-driving moving up EU the agenda EU Road Safety Action Plan plans to cut accidents by 50 % by 2010 17,000 deaths on the road 10,000 of which are not the drivers. 1 in 3 of such fatalities. What the WHO says works: - Tightening the Blood Alcohol Concentration levels - Random breath testing - Withdrawal of licenses and stronger penalties - Use of IT tools and new technology to update vehicle design

50. Retailing - the non Nordic way ! Point of sale - allocation of prime shelf space Sales promotions - reductions for multiple purchases In-store tastings

51. The impact of the single market Alcohol allowances are excessive compared to other excise products. (800 cigarettes, 10 litres of diesel or 230 litres of alcohol).

52. Knock, knock ……… Sales of alcohol over the internet have raised concerns in the US and Europe. Age-checks to prevent underage sales. The ECJ ruled that tax rates of the home country apply rather than those of the supply country. (JOUSTRA). The ECJ ruled that the private import ban in Sweden was not an intrinsic part of the operating of the retail monopoly and therefore contravened EU law (ROSENGREN)

53. What about the EU alcohol strategy ? The strategy was supposed to cover the following issues: Protection of young people – no sales to underage. Better enforcement of laws. No marketing targeting them and supporting effective interventions Drink-driving – better enforcement, random breath testing, license suspensions, awareness raising, reducing the BAC for young/novice drivers, treatment for repeated DUI Protection of 3rd parties – awareness raising on impact during pregnancy, support for kids in families affected by drinking problems Preventing ARH in adults – brief treatment and interventions, responsible beverage service, active enforcement of existing legislation Cross-cultural evidence – common knowledge basis, quality data and research at MS level, exchange of best practice Awareness raising on alcohol impact – eg with consumer policy and better information especially labelling, education but not in isolation

54. EC Communication on alcohol and health Finally, an EU alcohol strategy…. but it is very limited in scope and rests largely on supporting Member State actions. Alcohol is firmly on the EU policy agenda…but the most powerful EU mechanism, legislation, is off the agenda. The Forum will NOT be the place for policy discussions but both NGOs and industry seek such policy dialogue. Where will this happen? The ‘price of entry’ for industry to have access to SANCO via the Alcohol and Health Forum is that they must commit to concrete actions and increasing funds. But they already enjoyed frequent and good relations at senior SANCO level and NGOs face the same ‘price of entry’. There will be no balance in numbers of NGO/industry members

55. Alcohol at EU level before the Strategy SANCO Working Party on health indicators (project leaders, academics) SANCO Network of Competent Authorities (MS) European Health Policy Forum (stakeholders inc healthcare economic operators but not alcohol industry) This was the only formalised input for the alcohol industry towards DG SANCO Working Group on Alcohol and Health - MS and WHO. Occasionally linked meetings with interest groups. Alcohol specific Indirectly addressed alcohol in policy or data collection

56. Alcohol at EU level after the Strategy Standing Committee on data collection (MS, academics, links to SANCO WP on lifestyles) Standing Committee on National Policy (MS) Industry has a role in all of the elements of the strategy implementation except the Standing Committees but some cross-linking is foreseen Open Forum - all interested parties incl industry MS are observers of the Forum. Forum members may be invited to SC meetings Forum Plenary - stakeholders incl industry and observers (MS, WHO) Standing Group on Science - experts some nominated by industry