National beer groups to sign European constitution

18th June 2008, 12:22pm

The national beer consumer groups from 13 countries will meet on 24th June to sign the European Beer Consumers Union’s (EBCU) first constitution.

The chairs of the current 13 national member organisations will sign the Constitution of EBCU which encapsulates the aims and objectives of the federation representing over 130,000 beer drinkers across Europe at the Brewers of Europe House, in Brussels.

The European Beer Consumers Union (EBCU) will also be celebrating 18 years of existence having been founded in Bruges in 1990.

Whilst consolidation amongst the world's brewers continues, and global beer brands dominate the market; Europe's beer consumers are working hard to ensure that there will still be a wide choice of craft brewed beers available for future generations.

"In a climate where the big brewers continue to get bigger and bigger and lose all contact with their original routes, axing local beer brands and closing breweries it is essential that the beer drinkers of Europe stand up for local quality beer and fight to protect and promote Europe's beer heritage. The latest proposed mega-merger, between InBev and Anheuser-Busch will, if it succeeds, create a brewer with almost 25% share of the world beer market. How many more local beer brands will be lost whilst this new brewing giant concentrates on promoting its global beer brands?" said Terry Lock, chairman of EBCU.

"It is essential that Europe's Beer drinkers come together to fight the threats posed by globalisation in beer market. The member organisations of EBCU have shown that beer drinkers can reach agreement to enable the consumer's voice to be heard more clearly in the corridors of Brussels and Strasbourg. Perhaps a pint or two of quality craft produced beer could aid national governments to come to a similar accord" continued Lock.

Working together the 13 national beer consumer organisations lobby strongly on issues that concern the beer drinker and pub goer.

EBCU's objectives are:

The promotion of Europe's beer culture
The promotion of traditional beer styles
The promotion of diversity and consumer choice
To enhance the image of beer
To represent the interests of consumers

EBCU's priorities are:
Competition and Choice in the European Beer Market
Taxation
Empowering the Consumer

In the years since EBCU was founded there has been a renaissance of brewing in many countries of Europe, samples from some of these will be available to toast EBCU's 18th Birthday at the Brewers of Europe House on 24th June.

EBCU is a federation of national beer consumer organisations from the following countries Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.

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