Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Niklas Morberg

To the delight of both liquor lovers and producers, Macedonian stores shelves lined with bottles of beer, wines and spirits will no longer be off limits during the evening and night hours.

Government-proposed changes to the Law on Trade, aimed at lifting the ten-year ban on selling alcohol in retail stores after 7pm year round, and after 9pm in summer, are soon to be put to a vote in parliament, where they are likely to pass.

The abolition of this provision, introduced by the previous government under Nikola Gruevski in 2008, comes on the initiative of the Macedonian Chamber of Commerce and of the association of wine producers, Wines of Macedonia.

The Economy Ministry said it supported the change and had “no proof that the ban”, initially aimed at curbing youth drinking and traffic accidents, “had influenced any possible decrease in alcoholism in Macedonia whatever”.

The national wine association said the ban had damaged the wine industry, which accounts for 20 per cent of the country’s agricultural-based earnings.

“Although Macedonian wine is a leading brand and the country describes itself as a leading wine destination, domestic consumption counts for only 9 per cent of our production. Domestic consumption dropped by 10 per cent after the ban was introduced, which affected the income of wineries and their ability to purchase grapes from farmers,” the association said.

They estimate that this branch of agriculture involves some 30,000 farmers, 12,000 seasonal workers and some 2,000 other employees in the country.

Many people in the capital, Skopje, told BIRN that they supported lifting the curfew.

“It only creates trouble when you want to buy something and you can’t because you are five minutes late [in the store],” 33-year-old Milka said.

“I have been in that situation countless times when I needed beer or wine for my household; if I did not purchase it immediately after work, time was up.”

Dalibor, aged 17, said that the curfew had never prevented his peers from drinking.

“Everyone knows you can buy alcohol after dark. Each neighbourhood has at least few local grocery stores that illegally sell liquor to minors, even after the curfew,” he explained.

Rade, a 75-year-old pensioner, said he thinks the ban was ineffective.

“If we’d truly wanted to prevent alcoholism, we should have taught our children to be more responsible, tell them the dangers, not ban alcohol sales. No one in history managed to prevent alcohol sales … by banning it, they only created inconvenienced normal customers,” he said.

The new government, which came to power last year, hopes the change will increase the tax revenue from alcohol sales and production. The changes will not scrap the licences that retail stores have to possess in order to sell alcohol.

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