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French MPs vote to relax tight alcohol ad laws

French MPs have gone against the wishes of the government by voting to loosen France's tough laws on alcohol advertising after protests from the wine industry.

French MPs vote to relax tight alcohol ad laws
The French wine industry will be pelased at the move buy MPs.

The French wine industry will be raising a glass to MPs on Thursday after they voted in favour of relaxing France's stringent laws around the advertising of alcohol.

Members of parliament backed an amendment to a law that essentially allows for a difference to be made between “information” and “advertising” surrounding alcohol. 

THe laws were judged as too vague and have left those in the media who talk about wine or alcohol on TV in danger of being prosecuted for illegal advertising.

The vote passed in the main thanks to the pro-wine group of MPs from all parties.

France’s tight controls over advertising of alcohol were brought in back in 1991 as part of a bid to cut a worrying rise in alcohol consumption – especially among young people.

The Loi Evin, as it is known, bans TV advertising of any drink with an alcohol content of more than 1.2 percent. It also forbids French broadcasters from showing alcohol brands on players’ kits or stadium hoardings.

But those in the alcohol industry, especially the wine trade, have long fought against the law which they say is a major obstacle to their chances of success.

In the latest bid to loosen the controls, French senator Gérard César, himself a former winemaker, tabled an amendment to a government law currently passing through parliament, that would see the restrictions lifted.

César also won support from others in the wine trade like author Jacques Dupont, who wrote the book “Invignez-vous”.

Dupont told Le Figaro newspaper that educating people about drinking wine is the best way to fight against alcoholism.

“We live in France with this paradox: we are the country of wine, but we have the most restrictive legislation on alcohol in Europe,” said Dupont

“We are very happy to sell wine abroad, but at the same time, the message sent by the Ministry of Health is: be careful, the wine is highly poisonous!”

The author complained that it was impossible to talk positively about wine on television in France because it would be judged as “encouraging alcoholism”.

But on the other side of the fence are health associations and the French Minister for Health, Marisol Touraine, who has appealed for the law not to be changed.

“I appeal to each and everyone to take responsibility,” said Touraine. “Do not change the law.”

Claude Evin, the man behind the 1991 law, who is now head of the Ile-de-France health association said the change would be a slippery slope and effectively lead to “any kind of advertising” being allowed.

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Spain has second highest rate of daily alcohol drinkers in EU 

More than one in ten Spaniards drink alcohol every day, making them the Europeans who drink most regularly after the Portuguese, new Eurostat data reveals. 

Spain has second highest rate of daily alcohol drinkers in EU 
Photo: Cristina Quicler/AFP

Thirteen percent of people in Spain drink alcohol every day, a similar rate to Italy, where 12 percent enjoy a tipple on a daily basis, and only behind Portugal, where 20 percent of people have an alcoholic drink seven days a week.

That puts Spaniards above the EU average of 8.4 percent daily drinkers, data published by Eurostat in July 2021 reveals. 

This consistent alcoholic intake among Spaniards is far higher than in countries such as Sweden (1.8 percent daily drinkers), Poland (1.6 percent), Norway (1.4 percent), Estonia (1.3 percent) and Latvia (1.2 percent). 

However, the survey that looked at the frequency of alcohol consumption in people aged 15 and over shows that weekly and monthly drinking habits among Spaniards are more in line with European averages. 

A total of 22.9 percent of respondents from Spain said they drunk booze on a weekly basis, 18.3 percent every month, 12.5 percent less than once a month, and 33 percent haven’t had a drink ever or in the last year. 

Furthermore, another part of the study which looked at heavy episodic drinking found that Spaniards are the third least likely to get blind drunk, after Cypriots and Italians.

The Europeans who ingested more than 60 grammes of pure ethanol on a single occasion at least once a month in 2019 were Danes (37.8 percent), Romanians (35 percent), Luxembourgers (34.3 percent) and Germans (30.4 percent). 

The UK did not form part of the study but Ireland is included. 

Overall, Eurostat’s findings reflect how the Spanish habit of enjoying a glass of wine with a meal or a small beer (caña) outdoors with friends continues to be common daily practice, even though 13 percent does not make it prevalent. 

Spaniards’ tendency to drink in moderation also continues to prevail, even though a 2016 study by Danish pharmaceuticals company Lundbeck found that one in six people in the country still drinks too much. 

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