Plans that would have increased beer and wine prices in Germany and Spain and reduced them here and in the UK have been shelved after provoking internal opposition within the European Commission.

Officials within the Commission's single market directorate had begun work on proposals to align duties across Europe, which would have triggered a rise in beer duties of more than 17 per cent in Germany and Spain in 2003, while reducing them here over several decades.

But a majority of commissioners have indicated they oppose the proposals, which never received the formal imprimatur of Mr Frits Bolkestein, Single Market Commissioner.