POLICY RE-CATEGORIZATION and INTEGRATION Europeanization Of
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POLICY RE-CATEGORIZATION AND INTEGRATION Europeanization of Nordic Alcohol Control Policies Trygve Ugland Dissertation submitted to the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Oslo in Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of doctor rerum politicarum on 10 August 2001 CONTENTS List of Figures……………………………………...……………..…………………………. 6 Acknowledgments………….….……………………………………..……………………… 7 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION, THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE AND METHODOLOGY……………………………………...……..…….….…..…………. 9 1.1 Introduction….…………………………………….….……………………………… 9 1.1.1 Policy integration and disintegration…………..………………...………………… 9 1.1.2 Policy matches and mismatches…………………………..……………………...... 14 1.2 Policy areas as more or less integrated systems……..………………………….… 18 1.2.1 Policy consistency………………………………………..…………………………. 21 1.2.2 Policy interdependence..……….…………………………………………………… 23 1.2.3 Policy and structural connectedness……..……………………………………….. 24 1.3 Implications of variations in patterns and degrees of policy integration….....…. 25 1.3.1 Re-categorization as consequential versus rule-based action……...………...… 28 1.3.2 Policy integration, legitimacy and justification………………….…………….… 32 1.4 Methodology………………………………………………..………………..……… 36 1.4.1 An embedded multiple case study………………………….…………………….... 36 1.4.2 Pattern-matching: A policy re-categorization model………..………...……….... 38 1.4.3 Empirical sources………….……………………………….……………………….. 42 1.4.4 Reflections on the empirical sources………………………….……….………….. 46 1.5 Dissertation structure…………………….……..……………………..…….…...… 48 CHAPTER 2: NORDIC ALCOHOL CONTROL POLICIES AS MORE OR LESS INTEGRATED SYSTEMS……………..……………………………….………..….. 51 2.1 Background……….………….………………………….…….……………….....… 51 2.2 Nordic alcohol control policies and policy consistency……....……………..……. 54 2.2.1 The state alcohol monopoly systems………………………………………..……... 56 2.2.2 Taxation and pricing of alcoholic beverages……………………………..……… 64 2.2.3 Nordic variations in policy consistency……………………………..……………. 66 2.3 Nordic alcohol control policies and policy interdependence….….……………… 68 2.3.1 Nordic variations in policy interdependence………………………..…………… 69 2.4 Nordic alcohol control policies and structural connectedness….……….………. 72 2.4.1 Nordic variations in structural connectedness…………………..………………. 73 2.5 Contrasting patterns and degrees of alcohol control policy integration in Finland, Norway and Sweden…………….…………………………………...….... 82 2.6 History as inefficient: Continuity and change in Nordic alcohol control policies…………………………………………………..…………………………... 84 -3- CHAPTER 3: ALCOHOL, ALCOHOL CONTROL AND THE EU……….……...………...…… 87 3.1 Introduction………………………….………………………………..…………..... 87 3.2 Alcohol and alcohol control in the EU member states…………..……………..... 88 3.2.1 A disintegrated approach towards alcohol control…………..………………….. 88 3.2.2 Economic, cultural and historical aspects in relation to alcohol……….…….... 92 3.3 Alcohol and alcohol control on the EU level………....………………………….... 97 3.3.1 Alcohol control measures on the EU policy agenda…………………………..… 97 3.3.2 Alcohol and the European Court of Justice………………….…...…………….. 100 3.4 Specification of the substantive policy mismatch……...……….……………...... 101 3.5 Policy re-categorization in the area of alcohol control policy.…...………....….. 103 CHAPTER 4: NORDIC ALCOHOL CONTROL POLICIES IN THE MEETING WITH THE EU…….……..……………………………………..………..…… 105 4.1 Introduction……….……………………………………………..…...…………… 105 4.2 EFTA, EU and the Nordic countries…………...…………..……..……………... 107 4.3 The state alcohol monopoly systems.……....………………….....………………. 110 4.3.1 The Nordic version: Instruments of health and social policy……..…………... 110 4.3.2 The EU version: Monopolies of a commercial character………..……………. 113 4.3.3 A partial de-monopolisation: Nordic discord and separate adaptations…..... 115 4.3.4 The monopoly issue on the domestic arenas………………………………..…... 117 4.3.5 Finnish and Swedish exchange of letters with the Commission………..……... 122 4.3.6 Norwegian exchange of letters with the ESA…………………...……..……….. 123 4.3.7 Continuation of the retail monopolies: Towards a new Nordic accord…...…. 127 4.3.8 The Swedish retail monopoly before the ECJ……………………………..……. 128 4.3.9 The Norwegian retail monopoly before the EFTA Court……………..……….. 130 4.4 The high alcohol taxes and prices……….……….………….....……....………… 132 4.4.1 Tax harmonisation within the EU…………………….……………..…………… 133 4.4.2 Establishment of common tax legislation………………………..……………… 133 4.4.3 Free movement of goods…………………………………………..……………… 136 4.4.4 A Nordic derogation in the accession negotiations…….……..…….…...……... 136 4.4.5. Renegotiating the restrictions on travellers’ imports: Nordic discord and separate adaptations…………………………………………..…………………. 141 4.4.6 Cross-border trade in alcohol within the internal market…..…...……………. 144 4.4.7 Cross-border trade in Alcohol with Third Countries..………………………… 145 4.5 The two main pillars of Nordic alcohol control policies in the meeting with the EU………………………………………….…………………… 147 -4- CHAPTER 5: RE-CATEGORIZATION OF NORDIC ALCOHOL CONTROL POLICIES…..…..……………………………………………………….…………...… 149 5.1 Policy integration, justification and adaptation…...……….…………………… 149 5.2 The partial de-monopolisation…………………….……….....……………….…. 150 5.2.1 Finland: Abolition of the “Foreign trade monopolies”…..…………………… 151 5.2.2 Sweden: Striking a compromise with the Commission……..………………….. 153 5.2.3 Norway: Court driven adaptation towards the compromise solution…..……. 154 5.2.4 Discussion: Policy integration and justification………………………..……… 159 5.3 The tax and price instrument under pressure………….……….………………. 167 5.3.1 Discussion: Policy integration and justification……………………..……….... 168 5.4 Policy re-categorization, reconsideration and reinterpretation: A question of appropriate use of policy instruments…………..………………………..……… 172 CHAPTER 6: DISINTEGRATION AND REINTEGRATION OF NORDIC ALCOHOL CONTROL POLICIES…….….…………………………………….…...……. 179 6.1 Introduction…………….………………………………………………..………... 179 6.2 Disintegration of Nordic alcohol control policies?…………………..….….…… 180 6.3 Disintegration of Nordic alcohol control policy cooperation?…....………..…… 185 6.4 Policy integration and national problem- solving………………….……….…… 191 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSIONS………….……………………….…...…….…………..…. 199 7.1 Europeanization of Nordic alcohol control policies….…….…….…...………… 199 7.1.1 The policy context: Policy mismatch and re-categorization…...……………… 200 7.1.2 The policy process: Policy reconsideration and justification.…….…..………. 202 7.1.3 The policy outcomes: Disintegration and reintegration…..….…….……….…. 206 7.1.4 Different affiliation but similar outcomes………..…………….....…..…………. 211 7.1.5 Trends of policy homogenisation?……………………………..………………… 213 7.2 Dynamics of public policy change and continuity….……....…………………… 215 7.2.1 Eight theoretical themes on policy dynamics…...…..………………………….. 216 Appendix 1: Nordic Alcohol Control Policies and the EU – A Chronology……..… 221 Appendix 2: Letters………………………………………………………………..……... 235 Appendix 3: Informants………………………………………………………..………… 237 References………………………………………………………………………………… 239 -5- FIGURES Figure 1.1 A policy re-categorization model……...……………………………...…..... 39 Figure 3.1 Comparative dollar price levels on alcoholic beverages of final expenditure of GDP in 1993…...………………………………..…….....… 89 Figure 3.2 Principal exporting countries of alcoholic beverages in the world in 1992... 93 Figure 3.3 Per capita alcohol consumption in 15 European countries in 1990…….….. 95 Figure 4.1 Excises on alcohol in the EU member states and Norway, 1995…………. 138 Figure 4.2 Maximum quantities of beer, wine, strong wine and spirits that can be brought back by travellers for personal consumption after visits in other countries within the EEA Area as of 1995…..…...……...…......…... 141 Figure 6.1 Excises on beer (5 %) in Euro per litre pure alcohol, 1995-2001…..…..… 194 Figure 6.2 Excises on wine (11%) in Euro per litre pure alcohol, 1995-2001……….. 194 Figure 6.3 Excises on strong wine in Euro per litre pure alcohol, 1995-2001….……. 195 Figure 6.4 Excises on spirits in Euro per litre pure alcohol, 1995-2001…...….…...… 195 -6- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation owes much of its content to the thoughts and efforts of persons other than the author. My greatest debts are to my supervisor Johan P. Olsen, whose ideas and insights inspired me throughout this study. His comments and suggestions on various drafts were always pertinent, and I never left his office without having learnt something. Johan also welcomed me to the stimulating multi- disciplinary research environment at ARENA (Advanced Research on the Europeanization of the Nation State), University of Oslo; a contact that I have benefited substantially from. I am also deeply grateful to the National Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research, SIRUS (former SIFA) for their financing of this study, as well as for providing me with excellent working conditions continuously since 1996. My appreciation goes to both academic colleagues and administrative staff. Through SIRUS I was introduced to the very active alcohol research community in the Nordic countries at an early stage. This co-operation has lead to several books and articles, and my thanks go to co-authors, editors and reviewers of these collaborative projects. Thanks also to the GRASP (Health and Prevention Research Group), University of Montreal where I worked as a visiting researcher for some months on two occasions during this study. My gratitude also goes to Elizabeth Meehan at the Queen’s University of Belfast for stimulating