Europe 1 revealed it to you on Wednesday morning: Emmanuel Macron yielded to the lobby of the alcohol and the government gave up launching an operation "January without alcohol", declination of the "Dry January" which exists in particular in Great Britain for years. Supported by Public Health France and the Ministry of Solidarity and Health, this project was simply rejected.
Thursday, the Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn defended herself by saying that she had not validated the operation. However, Europe 1 has obtained the document presenting the "January without alcohol", stamped Public Health France and ... Ministry of Solidarity and Health. This document should have been presented to the press on Thursday 14 November.
Nearly 25% of French people exceed consumption benchmarks
The French would have had good reasons to adopt the "January without alcohol", tells us this document. France remains among the most alcohol-consuming countries in the world, ranking 6th out of 34 in the OECD. If only 10% of French drink daily, the document reveals that nearly 25% exceed the consumption benchmarks in force today: 10 glasses per week.
And the numbers vary by region. We drink more in the Hauts-de-France, in New Aquitaine or in Occitania. Consumption is lower in Île-de-France, Normandy or the Pays-de-la-Loire.
The weight of the alcohol lobby
In this document, it is recalled that the goal of this "January without alcohol" is to "pause" in its consumption and not to try to stop drinking completely. But for representatives of the alcohol lobby, the title "January without alcohol" was too ambiguous and could lead to believe that the government was pushing for abstinence as the "no-smoking month" pushes to permanently quit smoking.
It is from December 18th that we could have registered on a dedicated site to receive "messages of support" and take advantage of tips and tricks to take up the challenge of "January without alcohol". It will not be so. As a reminder, 41,000 deaths are attributable each year to alcohol, including 30,000 in men and 11,000 in women.