European objections set back minimum alcohol pricing until 2013

Cost: The Scottish Government wants to impose a bottom limit of 50p per unit of alcohol.© HEMEDIA / SWNS Group

Five European nations have raised legal objections to the Scottish Government's plans for minimum alcohol pricing, setting the proposals back by at least three months.

The European Commission has also cited a "technical objection" to minimum pricing, though it said it supported Holyrood's aims in tackling alcohol abuse.

Bulgaria was the first country to query the plan to set a bottom limit of 50p per alcohol unit. It has since been joined by France, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

A spokesman at the EC's Industry and Entrepreneurship Directorate said that while it "fully shared" the aim of the legislation to tackle alcohol abuse, there was a "technical objection".

He said the measures in the legislation caused difficulties in terms of their compatibility with the EU Treaty. "We are in a process aimed at finding a solution to the legal problems," he said.

The objections mean the consideration period for the proposals will be extended by three months to December 27.

The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) lodged a complaint with the European Commission earlier in the summer, and is pursuing action through the Court of Session in Scotland.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We believe that minimum pricing will save lives and reduce the harm caused by alcohol misuse and we also believe minimum unit pricing is the most effective pricing measure.

"We are confident that we can demonstrate, under European law, that the minimum pricing of alcohol is justified in Scotland on the basis of public health and social grounds."

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Jackson Carlaw, whose party endorsed minimum pricing last year - having previously branded it a "national alcohol tax" - claimed the Scottish Government had been wrong to insist the policy was legally bulletproof.

He said: "We want minimum pricing to work, and we gave our support on the condition it would be legally sound and that it could be dropped in future years if it wasn't working.

"We await to see what will happen now, but any legal challenge in the European courts could be both costly to Holyrood and cause significant delays."

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