Joan Cortinas Munoz, teaching sociology at the University of Bordeaux, likes to study the activity of the country's major lobbies. He and his friend Daniel Benamouzig, who also work at Sciences Po Paris, signed an investigation in 2022 on the intervention of the agri-food industry in the public sphere, entitled “From lobbies to the menu”. Their latest study, targeting the “alcohol” lobby and its political activities in France, tends to show the influence of the sector on certain decisions, particularly in matters of public health. The State's failure to support “Dry January” (or January challenge) is a symbolic illustration of this.
Why is “Dry January” not supported by public authorities?
I don't know what really happened, I'm not in on the secrets of the cabinets, but from the outside, this is what we observe: Public Health France, which depends on the Ministry of Health, wanted launch an alcohol-free month in January 2020, an event aimed at better population health and based on scientific data. Everything was ready, but a few weeks or days before its launch, it was finally abandoned, certainly at the request of the Élysée. Which testifies to the quite incredible power of the President of the Republic and the strength of the alcohol industry. Remember that Emmanuel Macron had for several years as agriculture and food advisor a strong lobbyist for the French wine industry [Audrey Bourolleau qui fut également sa conseillère sur les mêmes thématiques durant la campagne présidentielle 2022, NDLR]. Since then, “Dry January” has only been supported by associations…
What does your report highlight about the political activities of alcoholic beverage producers?
We have carried out an inventory of the way in which, in France, economic actors play an important role in the definitions of public health policy linked to alcohol. That the alcoholic beverages sector defends its activity is completely understandable, but the difficulty lies in the mixing of genres and this sector acts in the field of public health, which nevertheless proves problematic.
How does the alcohol lobby participate in French political life?
-We have identified several activities. The first, in the cognitive field, aims to distill ideas and concepts in order to defend the alcoholic beverages sector. There is, for example, a lot of work to show that wine can be good for your health or a way to enhance it. They are no longer simple drinks, they become the expression of a heritage. We transform ethanol into something exceptional. The other job is to disseminate ideas to key decision-makers, a classic lobbyist job.
You speak, in particular, in this report, of the National Association of Vine and Wine Elected Officials, responsible for representing the interests of the wine sector in Parliament…
Yes, and three parliamentary study groups, made up of deputies or senators, are also structured to support the wine and brewing sectors. This must be a French exception. I don't know how all the parliaments in the world work, but it is still surprising that citizens' representatives officially represent the interest of an economic sector. This still points to a real democratic problem… And it does not seem that any other sector has the chance to have such an identified defense in the assemblies.
What other types of political activities can representatives of the sector have?
They can sometimes take the place of public authorities by organizing awareness or prevention actions among consumers on the risks linked to alcohol. It's very good to inform, especially young people, but there would certainly be much better to do in terms of the attractiveness of drinks or quite simply their accessibility. A final activity, which we noted, this time in the symbolic register, is that of attacking opponents. The industry seeks in particular to discredit its adversaries. In Bordeaux, we notably recalled the case of Valérie Murat [militante anti pesticides engagée dans une bataille judiciaire avec l’interprofession du vin de Bordeaux, NDLR].
