Until now Sweden had the most restrictive laws in Europe on alcohol, with very high excise taxes. The European Community (EC), under leadership of Germany (who wants to sell more beer), and France (who wants to sell more wine), has now forced Sweden to loosen up its anti-alcohol laws, and to lower the excise taxes on beer and wine. The EC wants more equality and standardization of the taxes in Europe.

Most Swedes will not have thought that they would lose so much sovereignty when they voted to join the EC, but on the other hand, they will not have to take the “party-“ boat to Denmark or to the other neighboring countries to buy affordable wine and beer. It remains an open question if the cheaper booze will compensate the growing realization that the EC is taken a lot of power away from the National Parliaments. No country in Europe, except for Luxembourg maybe, dares to organize a referendum about the EC membership, because most citizens would want to restore sovereignty of their country.
Newsletter January 2001