Beer is packaged in a factory in Belgium | Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images Belgian MPs to pay for alcohol in parliament Policy change after opposition to free beer and wine.

Belgian MPs will have to pay for their beer and wine in the federal parliament’s restaurant after wide scale opposition to an earlier decision not to ban free alcohol at the premises, local media reported.

Drinks have been free of charge for almost three decades but the parliament's bureau, which includes the speaker, deputy speakers and leaders of the political groups, decided on Wednesday to start charging MPs for all beverages, except coffee.

An ethics committee had asked speaker Siegfried Bracke to scrap free beer and wine after an investigation into bad behavior in parliament found the move would “improve the quality of debate.”

But Bracke initially denied there was a problem and said figures show there was “no reason to reduce the alcohol consumption.” He said MPs drink an average of 3 glasses of beer and two glasses of wine a month.

Marijs Geirnaert, the chair of the Association of Alcohol and Drug Problems, called for the ban because “politicians are role models" and they should set an example for other workplaces.

It is unclear how much drinks will cost. Alcohol will remain free of charge in the regional parliament of Flanders, which had a similar policy, its speaker said last week.

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