Social Security Budget: What is this Tax on Alcoholic Energy Drinks, Adopted by the Assembly
The amendment was adopted by deputies this Friday 7th November, but the text must still pass the Senate. We have to wait before we see a total ban on products.
The Assembly adopted this Friday 7th November 2025 a tax on alcoholic energy drinks, with the aim of combating what was described in the hemicycle as “a scourge” especially for young people.
The measure, adopted within the framework of debates on the Social Security budget, targets the appearance of new products (for example the Vody drink) which mix strong alcohol, stimulants and sweet or flavored ingredients.
“It’s a real scourge against young people”, declared the general rapporteur of the draft Social Security budget, Thibault Bazin (LR).
READ ALSO: “A real scourge”: vodka, taurine… What is Vody, the 22% alcohol drink that France wants to ban?
Products mixing alcohol and sweet drinks also in the viewfinder
The deputies adopted an amendment to broaden the scope of a tax on “premixes” (mixing alcohol and sweet non-alcoholic drinks), collected for the benefit of the National Health Insurance Fund.
Specifically, the amendment in question extends this tax to alcoholic beverages “comprising the addition of active substances having a stimulating effect on the body, in particular caffeine, taurine, guaranine.
A decree must specify these substances. This will allow, according to Thibault Bazin, to “be able to adapt” easily if producers change “their composition”, and thus not risk them circumventing the tax in the future.
Adopted on the left and center
The amendment, presented by Horizons president of the Social Affairs Committee Frédéric Valletoux, was adopted with the votes of the left, MoDem deputies, independent Liot, and the majority of Renaissance and Horizons deputies.
The Republicans, the Rassemblement national and its allies, on the other hand, voted against.
“I find objectively, morally reprehensible the fact of trying to make money on something that should be banned”, Marine Le Pen declared in the hemicycle.
Either it is harmful and it is prohibited, or it is not harmful and there is no reason to tax them.
Better control the ban on the sale of alcohol to minors
The Minister of Health Stéphanie Rist had given an opinion of wisdom (neither for nor against) to this amendment, emphasizing that these products particularly target “young people”.
But she recalled that alcohol was prohibited for those under 18, and that it was necessary above all “control this consumption more and better”.
Faced with a multitude of so-called “behavioral” tax amendments (on alcohol, tobacco, etc…) proposed by the deputies, she insisted: “behavioral taxation does not make a prevention policy”.
Certain taxes “have good yields” and “therefore highlight that this does not necessarily reduce consumption”, she added.
More steps before a total ban
A vote on the draft Social Security budget for 2026 is scheduled for Wednesday 12th November in the Assembly. The text will then have to be examined in the Senate.
Thus, these products could still be sold in the future, if the amendment is not definitively adopted.
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