What a cheek! The wine guzzling French blame us for their binge-drink woes
THEY drink twice as much wine as we do.
But faced with a rising tide of binge- drinking youngsters, the French have pinned the blame on one country – Britain.
Ministers have called the habit of boozing to excess an ‘Anglo-Saxon phenomenon’ and say it is being copied by increasing numbers of youths on the Continent.
Experts even warned that emulating the ‘worrying’ British habit could lead to more attacks on women, fatal accidents and unprotected sex.
But it appears to be a case of double standards for a country where young children are often encouraged to sip wine at the table – which researchers say could lead to binge drinking later.
The latest figures reveal that almost half of French 18 to 25 yearolds have consumed alcohol with the sole aim of getting drunk – compared to 33 per cent ten years ago.
The rise in bingeing is particularly high among young women, soaring from eight per cent who admitted they had done it in 2005, to three times that number this year.
Now France’s state health watchdog has claimed the sharp increase is due to French youths copying the British. Francis Bourdillon, head of the National Institute of Prevention and Health Education, said: ‘This is an Anglo-Saxon phenomenon that’s starting to creep into the [young] generation.
‘Consumption of alcohol in France is particularly worrying among young people and especially among young women. Besides the obvious health concerns, binge drinking can also lead to violence against women, sometimes fatal drunken accidents, and unprotected sex.’
The slur on the British comes in the same week that French health minister Marisol Touraine presents a new health bill that includes crackdowns on France’s bingedrinking culture. She said: ‘We have to put a stop to drunkenness that does such damage to young people. This trend is a risk to their own health, and as a result puts an extra strain on the health service.
‘Some may accuse the government of wanting to arrest people for having fun. But it is our job to encourage citizens to moderate their alcohol intake.’
Her reforms include fines of up to £12,000 for inciting someone under 18 to get drunk, and fines of £5,000 or six months in prison for inciting someone of any age to binge drink.
Putting even further strain on Anglo-French relations, France has even banned the English phrase binge drinking. Language watchdogs have ordered it to be replaced by ‘beuverie express’ or ‘fast drinking’ in government literature.
France tops the table for world wine consumption while Britain lags behind in 23rd place, according to 2013 data from the International Wine and Spirit Association. According to their statistics, the French guzzle 54.5 litres of wine per person every year compared to just 25.9 litres in the UK.
The country is also among the world’s most liberal countries in terms of alcohol consumption.
The legal minimum age for drinking in public is 18, but there is no regulation in private areas – and teenagers are sometimes served small amounts by their parents at family dinners. However, US research this week claimed young children allowed to sip alcohol are four times more likely to bingedrink when they are teenagers.