Internal government wrangling over alcohol policy is heating up, as policies aimed at further liberalising the sale of alcohol in grocery stores move ahead.
The government headed by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) has been dismantling some of the restrictions on the sale of alcohol in Finland. As a part of this push, fermented beverages containing up to 8 percent alcohol content appeared on supermarket shelves last summer.
The government is now looking at whether wines containing up to 15 percent alcohol could be sold in supermarkets and grocery stores.
It also has a plan for a change in the law that would allow alcoholic drinks to be ordered for delivery directly to homes or to a public place such as a park. To date, this idea has been firmly rejected in most quarters.
Päivi Räsänen, a veteran Christian Democrat MP and former party leader, stated in a Yle TV broadcast on Wednesday evening that strong wine will not be sold in grocery stores as long as her party are in government.
According to Räsänen, the government programme contains an agreement only that a study will be carried out into the possibility of 15 percent alcoholic beverages being sold in supermarkets.
"Nothing else has been agreed. It has not been agreed that they will be made available in supermarkets," she said.
Räsänen added that she is confident that the planned study will show that the harm caused by such a move would outweigh any benefits.
"I wonder if getting these 15 percent drinks into grocery stores is important enough to endanger the composition of the coalition government. It has been agreed in government that there must be unanimous support for matters that are not written into the government programme," she pointed out.
Still a taboo for some
The government is examining a change in the law which would exempt the sale of wines of up to 15 percent alcohol content from the monopoly currently held by the state-owned Alko retail chain.
A study on the move, noted in the government programme, is due to be completed before mid-term budget talks next spring.
Also addressing the issue in Yle's A-studio broadcast on Wednesday, National Coalition Party MP Sinuhe Wallinheimo declined to comment on whether the NCP would push ahead with the 15 percent wines sales plan, even if it is opposed by other coalition partners.
"Let's find out [the potential impacts] first and then draw conclusions," he said.
In Wallinheimo's view, alcohol policy is almost a taboo subject for some parties in Finland, and some feel that the state knows best what Finnish people want.
"Then there are others, including the National Coalition Party, which believe that 15 percent wines could be introduced in supermarkets. This is what the people want, plus we only have two countries in the EU with a [alcohol] monopoly. In all the other EU countries it is possible to offer wine in supermarkets," Wallinheimo noted.
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