French group demands Sarkozy action on anti-alcohol lobby March 5, 2008
Sophie Kevany in Bordeaux
A French group has threatened Nicolas Sarkozy with industrial action if he does not curb the anti-alcohol lobby.
Vin et Société, which represents the French wine sector, has threatened to take industry wide action if President Sarkozy does not act on campaign promises to resolve increasing limitations on wine and spirits advertising in France.
'We have not yet got a date for a meeting [with Sarkozy]. We will wait only until the second half of March, after the municipal elections, because we don't want to politicise the issue,' said Delphine Blanc, director of Vin et Société.
The group made the demand at France's main agricultural show, the Salon de l'Agriculture at the Porte de Versailles in Paris, held annually from February to the beginning of March.
If Sarkozy does not agree a date for a meeting by the deadline, the group says it will mobilise the entire sector.
Sarkozy, speaking at the show, confirmed yet again that he would seek a solution which would make wine a 'product of terroir, not the guilty party'.
He also reconfirmed campaign promises, made notably in Sancerre in April 2007, that he would give more freedom to wine advertising, currently strictly limited by the 1991 Evin Law.
The Vin et Société demand follows a series of recent court cases taken, and won, by ANPAA (Association Nationale de Prévention en Alcoologie et Addictologie), the anti-alcohol lobby group.
ANPAA won cases against Moet & Chandon, Heineken, Le Parisien newspaper, and a French restaurant chain, for encouraging the consumption of alcoholic drinks beyond the limits of the law.
Last month's case against Heineken forced the brewer to close its French website after the judge ruled the internet was not an approved medium for drinks publicity.
Vin et Societe is demanding that the internet be included as an approved medium, and that the meaning of the word 'publicity' be clearly defined.
'Simply mentioning the name of an alcoholic drink currently constitutes publicity,' said Blanc.
The current climate in France is such that one national daily paper, Le Figaro, now puts a government approved health warning at the end of wine related articles.
Have your say... To post your comment on this story, email us at news@decanter.com, making sure the relevant headline is in the subject field
It will be fascinating to see how the French resolve this issue and maybe, just maybe, a little of the usual French pragmatism will filter its way through to UK Governmental planning.
However this message should be tempered with a "Health Warning" - we have allowed this Government to gain hold over everything and the only solution is in our hands, the solution is to make sure that we do not allow them to continue to refuse us the opportunity to vote on matters of significance. We do need to stand up an be counted, the French would and we should follow their lead.
Peter Bowyer, Swindon, UK
Register on decanter.com absolutely free for news alerts delivered direct to your email inbox, and our fortnightly newsletter with advance notice of what’s coming up in Decanter magazine, offers, competitions and more.
PLUS registration is a one-stop shop for the Decanter magazine Archive and Decanter Fine Wine Tracker.
