/// The Government will introduce a new law with the power to jail those inciting binge-drinking for up to a year and fine them up to €15,000 (£12,000). ///
Perhaps that's not such a bad idea, perhaps we should do the same in Britain?
I don't agree with the custodial sentence though, it go as far as suggesting it should be increased to be at par with UK licencing law regarding selling alcohol to people under the age of 18.
In this particular case, they may have a point, sadly. Binge-drinking is, at the very least, not part of French culture (or at least not the official one).
// “It is really an Anglo-Saxon phenomenon that’s beginning to slip in to the generation from the 15-24-year-olds.” //
This type of drinking (fast and to excess) is how the youth drink in the UK and Germany and the US. Young french people, if this French Minister is to be belueved, is saying it is creeping into french culture, probably through films and tv programmes.
He is not blaming us for the cultural change, he is just saying a change has occurred.
///FRANCE has blamed the British for soaring numbers of young binge-drinkers on the other side of the Channel in a gobsmacking case of double standards.///
/// The Government will introduce a new law with the power to jail those inciting binge-drinking for up to a year and fine them up to €15,000 (£12,000). ///
In the UK, those inciting binge-drinkers would be the licencees and landlords. They can be heavily fined and have their licence revoked. That is probably more than a £12,000 fine.
As pointed out above, Anglo-Saxon does not mean British. Scotland, Wales, Ireland are Celtic. The USA could be an Anglo-Saxon country. The Saxon bit obviously refers to German ancestry.