www.alkoholpolitik.ch

Alcohol is one of the key health determinants in the European countries which needs to be tackled. Europe is the continent where per capita alcohol consumption is the highest in the world. In established market economies such as the EU Member States the burden of disease and injury attributable to alcohol is estimated to be situated between 8 and 10%.
Combating alcohol-related harm therefore is a public health priority in many Member States, and at EU level. It is not only health consequences in a narrow sense which raise concern. The social dimension has also to be considered: violence, hooliganism, crime, family problems, social exclusion, problems at the workplace and drink driving. All these are areas where political action is needed. There is agreement among the Member States that, beyond individual national efforts, a joint alcohol strategy at Community level is needed. EU-review, 9/22/09