EU talks on raising alcohol tax collapsed on Tuesday as beer-loving nations Germany and the Czech Republic mounted fierce resistance to the plans that they found too hard to swallow, officials said.

"The discussion was useful but we didn't manage to get a decision or an agreement today," Finnish Finance Minister Eero Heinaluoma said after chairing a meeting of his EU counterparts in Brussels.

The European Commission proposed in September an increase in minimum alcohol excise duties, the first since 1992, although wine would not be affected.

Under the proposal, the revision to take inflation into account would mean an excise increase of 31 percent, although the commission said it would have a minimal effect because it would be phased in by 2010 and most EU countries already levy higher alcohol duties.

For example, the commission estimated that the impact on a half litre of beer would be a one-euro-cent increase in the seven countries that would have been affected: Germany, the Czech Republic, Malta, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Spain.

However, when the European Union's current Finnish presidency sounded out the members on their positions at a meeting in Brussels of EU finance ministers, Germany, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Latvia voiced their opposition to the plan, which needed unanimous backing to work.

"There was quite a lively debate about the importance of beer," Finland's Heinaluoma said, acknowledging that "beer was one of the problems". The Finnish minister said that the EU would try again later this month to reach a deal.

In the face of German and Czech opposition, Finland had made lifting the minimum excise tax on alcohol one of its goals during its stint at the EU's helm.

Finland, which already has high alcohol taxes, sees the taxes as a measure to help discourage against heavy drinking, which can be a problem during the Nordic country's long, dark winters.

Germany is eager to avoid an increase in the minimum excise tax on alcohol because Berlin is preparing an unpopular rise in value added tax from 16 percent to 19 percent next year.

Meanwhile, with the highest beer consumption per head in the EU, blocking higher taxes was also dear to the Czech Republic, wary of the wrath of its beer drinkers.

EU member states already clashed in March this year over value added tax when they struggled to agree on a list of labour-intensive services to benefit from exceptionally low rates.