Alcohol|There are a whole bunch of issues to be investigated in the government’s agenda, Kd chairman Sari Essayah acknowledges the government’s decision to start an investigation into bringing wine into grocery stores.
Government party the Christian Democrats do not believe that the wines would be coming to milk stores, even if the government starts preparing for the matter.
HS told on Tuesday, that the government will make a report on allowing the sale of wines with a maximum of 15% in grocery stores. The director-general of the Ministry of Labor and Economy has been appointed to lead the investigation Antti Neimala.
In itself, starting the investigation work is not a surprise, because it has been recorded Petteri Orpon (kok) to the government program.
In the government negotiations, the coalition tried hard to push wines into grocery stores, but it didn’t work out for the Christian Democrats. As a compromise, it was agreed that the government can still investigate the matter.
In the view of the Christian Democrats, the matter should also remain at the clarification stage.
“Starting the investigation does not mean per automatic that the wines would be coming to the shops”, comments the chairman of the Christian parliamentary group Peter Ostman.
Östman emphasizes that Kd is committed to making a report in the government negotiations, and not to anything else.
Neimalan the survey work is supposed to be completed by March 15, 2025. If there is an agreement on the matter, the government could in principle decide to bring wines to milk stores in the mid-term rush of next spring.
However, an agreement is unlikely to be found, as Kd has traditionally opposed all relaxations of the alcohol policy. Bringing wines into grocery stores is such a big principled issue for the party that it is hardly ready to budge on it.
Is this a red line that Christians are not willing to cross under any circumstances?
“I believe and hope that the investigation will show what the consequences of the decision would be. That is, in terms of consumption and also in terms of Alko’s monopoly,” Östman answered.
He says he hopes that there would be a proper discussion in Finland about what the breaking of Alko’s monopoly would mean, for example, in terms of the consumption of spirits.
Christian Democrats Chairman, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Sari Essayah didn’t have time to comment on the start of the wine tasting by phone on Tuesday due to the meeting noise.
However, Essayah stated in a text message that there is really nothing more to comment on the matter, as it is an investigation in accordance with the government program.
“There are a whole bunch of things to clarify in the government program,” Essayah reminded.
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