How did you get into spirits?
After working as a lawyer for several years, I wanted to go back to university to do an LLM in European Law. One of the courses on this LLM was called European Public Affairs Management, which I really liked and after my LLM I knew I wanted to find a job in the public affairs world. My professor on the European Public Affairs Management course told me that there was a vacancy at the Product Board of Spirit Drinks and after talking to my potential new Director, Joep Stassen, I knew I wanted that job. And so it happened, almost twenty years ago now, time flies when you are having fun!
What is your role as Chairman of the Internal Market Committee of spiritsEUROPE?
My role as chairman is to work closely with the spiritsEUROPE team, set the right agenda and try to give members as much time as they need to discuss things fully around the table, but within the time allotted. This is always a struggle and a challenge, but we manage well, I must say. The issues are often technical and can be quite difficult, so it is also a challenge to try and address the issues in a way that everyone can still follow the discussion (even if they have not read the files). I really like the discussions that take place because there are often as many views as there are people. And then it is the job of the Secretariat and the Chair to find common ground and a way forward.
What are the current challenges and opportunities for the spirits sector?
There are always a lot of challenges, but nowadays you see Member States introducing more and more new laws that can be seen as barriers to trade but are tweaked in such a way that they can be introduced. Take, for example, the DRS (Deposit Return Systems) logos that must be put on cans and PET bottles. Why do Member States not use the same logo? Having different logos in different countries does not help to facilitate trade. My own country, the Netherlands, introduced legislation that affected SMEs by making glass bottles lighter. We were all very surprised by this, and even the European glass industry had never seen such a strict measure taken by a Member State. This is one of the reasons why I am glad that we will now have a Regulation on Packaging & Packaging Waste (PPWR) instead of the Directive that is still in play. Great work by the spiritsEUROPE Secretariat in securing our key demands in the forthcoming PPWR Regulation. More challenges lie ahead with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). Indeed, it is difficult to interpret all the reporting obligations that it imposes, but I urge all companies and national trade associations to really dive into this tough new law if you have not already done so.
When meeting with the new Commissioner in charge of the Single Market, what would be your top 3 wishes?
First of all, I would congratulate him or her on the appointment! Then I would urge the Commissioner to maintain and manage the Single Market for goods and services and to strengthen its governance as much as possible, because this work helps to ensure an open Internal Market, which is still one of our cornerstones of European integration. As we know, there are still far too many national rules that get in the way. We need to remove as many barriers to cross-border activity as possible. EU rules must be "robustly" enforced and equal access to the single market must be guaranteed.
I would also like to stress that while online sales of alcohol across EU borders are growing, they are complicated by different national rules on, for example, licensing, taxation and delivery obligations. Our companies selling alcohol online must navigate these different regulatory environments in each Member State, which makes cross-border alcohol sales very complex. Look at this and make it more transparent and manageable for businesses.
Less is often more, less but better regulation would be my final request to the Commissioner.
What's your favourite cocktail for this autumn?
I prefer stronger cocktails and one of my favorites is the Negroni, either with Genever or Gin, Campari and sweet vermouth. I like to be surprised and a nice Dutch company serves the Negroni with a Dutch twist in their presentation which I find amusing, the so-called red light Negroni. Have a look here!
