Nederlands Instituut voor Alcoholbeleid STAP
STAP
Het Nederlands Instituut voor Alcoholbeleid STAP is een onafhankelijk kennisinstituut dat zich inzet voor een effectief alcoholbeleid en voor publieke bewustwording van de gezondheidsrisico's van alcohol.
ID: 826615518859-73
Lobbying Activity
Response to EU cardiovascular health plan
16 Sept 2025
Alcohol related harm, including mortality and morbidity, are record high in the EU and cardiovascular disease is the leading category of alcohol attributable mortality. Alcohol consumption is estimated to be responsible for close to 50,000 CVD deaths annually in the EU. Europe has the highest rates of alcohol consumption per person, the highest prevalence of heavy episodic (i.e. binge drinking) alcohol use, and the lowest rates of alcohol abstention in the world. Of the 10 countries that have the highest levels of consumption in the world, nine are located in the WHO European Region, where alcohol also makes the largest contribution to all-cause mortality. Disadvantaged and vulnerable populations have higher rates of alcohol-related death and hospitalisation, as harm from a given amount and pattern of drinking is higher for poorer drinkers and their families than for richer drinkers in any given society. Contrary to common belief, there is no conclusive evidence of a protective effect of low-to-moderate alcohol consumption on cardiovascular health in general and on heart health in particular. Furthermore, alcohol consumption above low amounts is an important risk factor for coronary heart disease, heart failure, hypertension, atrial fibrillation and stroke. In order for the Cardiovascular Health Plan to reach its objectives, we call on the European Commission to explore sustainable long-term mechanisms to raise the necessary funding for its implementation. Implement Effective Policies to Reduce Alcohol-Related Harm on Health, including Cardiovascular Health, and Society As indicated in the Call for Evidence, most cardiovascular diseases can be prevented by addressing risk factors. Therefore, the Cardiovascular Health Plan aims to include prevention as key action area and address unhealthy behaviours to reduce the risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. We would like to stress that the European Commission should not give priority to policies and projects that target individuals at the expense of primary prevention (population measures); indeed, we witnessed that many approaches chosen to prevent NCDs were still mainly focused on the provision of information to encourage people to modify their health and risk behaviours at the individual level, despite extensive evidence that there are many deeper underlying socio-economic, commercial and environmental factors beyond individual control that affect their health choices . At an individual level, risk behaviours often occur together and are mostly concentrated in low income and other marginalised groups. This results in people with limited resources experiencing multiple concurrent health challenges . Also, integrated approaches to tackling multiple NCDs risk factors (such as alcohol, tobacco or unhealthy food and drinks) are still relatively rare and consensus about the importance of the commercial determinants in driving health and social inequalities and its importance in the prevention of CVDs have not yet been picked up in a systematic way. In this spirit, Eurocare supports the submission prepared by SFP, EHN, YHO and we invite the European Commission to ensure a more integrated approach to the prevention of CVDs as part of its plan. Focus on: 1. Taxation 2. Alcohol Labelling 3. Alcohol Health Warnings 4. No EU Subsidies for Alcohol Production and Promotion
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