The café and bar owners association Horeca Nederland is taking legal action against Heineken, Grolsch and Bavaria for over-charging its members.

The case follows the €273m fine levied on the brewers by EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes this summer for cartel-forming in the late 1990s.
Horeca Nederland chairman Jeu Claes told Monday’s Telegraaf that a settlement would be good for the sector and ‘ultimately, the consumer’. ‘We want them to re-examine their prices and make sure there is a clear, transparent structure,’ he told the paper.
In addition, the brewers should do more to separate their different roles, he said. ‘They act as financiers, they are property owners, they run cafés. So they can make good losses on their property by increasing the price of beer,’ he said.