ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by noting that there were outside pressures for change even before the European Union era, and discusses defenders of the alcohol control systems. It shows that the outcome of a political process is often a compromise and always an outcome of vectors pointing in more or less different directions. The chapter deals with the state as the tax collector in the alcohol field and also as an important payer of alcohol-related costs. It explains the different economic actors and their interests and reactions, starting with state alcohol monopolies as entrepreneurs, followed by private producers, exporters, wholesalers, importers, and retailers of alcoholic beverages. The chapter presents agents representing foreign alcohol-producing enterprises, workers in the alcohol field, farmers and other producers as suppliers for the alcohol industry, the tourism industry, and some very specific actors like ferry companies interested in keeping tax-free alcoholic beverage sales alive.
