A European Union action plan to tackle the harm caused by alcohol is set to urge a crackdown on alcopops to help curb drinking among young people.

The European Commission will shortly unveil a five-year strategy aimed at cutting down problems associated with alcohol abuse, which kills nearly 200,000 people every year in Europe.

A draft copy of the document, which has been obtained by the Sunday Herald, shows member countries will be asked to consider targeting the taxes, sales and marketing of drinks popular among young people, such as alcopops.

The strategy has been produced as a response to growing concerns surrounding drinking habits. While average overall alcohol consumption has been decreasing in the EU, there has been an increase in binge-drinking, and in the number of children consuming alcohol on a regular basis in the past decade.

Other measures recommended in the document include:

l Health warnings on the labels of alcoholic drinks – particularly aimed at pregnant women.

l The drink-driving limit being dropped to a level of 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, compared with the 80mg currently allowed in Britain. For young or inexperienced drivers, it calls upon countries to introduce a zero limit.

l Better enforcement of current age limits for selling and serving of alcohol and the re-examination of the minimum legal age for drinking, particularly in countries where it is below 18 years.

l Educational programmes to change drinking behaviour among children and teenagers.

The binge-drinking culture is a particular problem in the UK, and recent research revealed that Scots are drinking themselves to death quicker than anywhere else in Western Europe. Scotland has the fastest growing level of drink-related cirrhosis deaths in Europe, with death rates for women in 2001 the second worst after Austria and for men third worst, after Austria and Portugal.

The appeal of alcopop-type drinks – also known as “pre-mixed” products – to youngsters has long raised concerns among health experts. Last week, watchdogs in Britain banned two TV adverts for WKD and Smirnoff Ice because they were too juvenile .

The draft of the action plan for 2007-12 states that the European Commission will: “Explore … the possibility of developing approaches aimed at limiting the availability, sale and marketing of alcoholic products that are particularly appealing to children and adolescents .”

Campaigners welcomed the new strategy, but Jack Law, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, cast doubt on a plan that focused on increasing the tax on certain drinks with established youth appeal.

He said: “ Many would just switch to other, cheaper drinks instead. A more radical approach would be for manufacturers to reduce the % ABV [alcohol by volume] of drinks which are attractive to young people.”

Helen Symons, spokeswoman for charity Alcohol Concern, argued that the price of all alcoholic drinks should be increased. “Research has indicated that an increase of just 10% in the price of alcohol could reduce alcohol-related deaths by up to 37%,” she said.

While safety campaigners support a lower drink-driving limit, they point out that having a separate zero limit for young people could be unworkable.

Roger Vincent, spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said they had called for a 50 mg limit in Britain for a long time.

But he added: “The problem with a zero limit is the amount of time it takes for alcohol to get out of people’s blood and there is alcohol in things like mouthwash, so if it was zero it might be very difficult to justify that in the public’s mind.

“ Having a two-tier system then implies that, at a certain age, it is OK to have a drink and drive.”

Representatives from the drinks industry argued that targeting the sale and availability of drinks is not the answer to tackling binge drinking.

Jamie Fortescue, director general of the European Spirits Organisation, called for “more education and information measures, as opposed to any attempts to restrict the product itself”.

Fortescue also claimed that a “one-size fits all” solution would not work as drinking cultures differed significantly from one European country to another.

Philip Tod, spokesman for health and consumer protection at the European Commission, said it was hoped the strategy would be adopted later in the autumn. He added that it would not be legislation, but was intended to prompt discussion . The Scottish Executive is also due to launch an updated action plan on alcohol later this year.