With 700,000 Europeans dying every year the Tobacco Directive was brought to a public hearing in the European Parliament.
Before the meeting, Health Commissioner Tonio Borg told New Europe, "The ambition of the Commission is to have the Tobacco Directive approved by the co-legislators during the current parliament, this is extremely important."
He said, "There will be a transitional period, so if everything goes right, we're thinking of a directive that will come into effect in three and a half to four years time."
Noting that there was considerable support for the directive, the Commissioner said, "It's amazing. There are always two sides to any question so don't get too impressed if there's support from one sector and a lack of support in another."
Sounding a note of caution, he added, "Certainly, there is a group of states who are concerned because of the economic consequences of this directive but there are answers to that, health is unique. I think the health and lives of our citizens are our primary consideration. There are economic considerations, but they are secondary."
During the hearing Borg was even more forthright. Pointing out that the directive had already taken 11 years, he urged immediate action, saying, "This is not regulating for the sake of it. The main aim is saving lives."
Borg replaced John Dalli, whom tobacco company, Swedish Match had accused of soliciting bribes, leading to his controversial sacking by Commission President Barroso. Dalli strongly denies this and has initiated legal action.
Despite this inauspicious start, Borg impressed MEPs at his confirmation hearing and a range of health organisations looking into public health and smoking.
He said that he was trying to bring in something balanced that would get broad support and he understood that the directive was not as comprehensive as some were wanting.
SUB: A Biblical struggle
Representing herself as 'David' fighting the tobacco lobby's 'Goliath', Forence Berteletti-Kemp of the Smoke Free Partnership compared their two person operation with the lobby, saying that the tobacco industry spends over €5 million a year on lobbying, employing a hundred full-time lobbyists in Brussels.
Berteletti-Kemp also noted that tobacco lobbyists seemed to be able to get more high level access to the Commission than the health groups did, meetings that were only disclosed after pressure from health organizations and applications under transparency rules. She asked, "When we asked to get a meeting on the tobacco productive directive, we were referred back to the health commissioner. So who has been given fair access at the highest level and who has not?"
The directive was also supported by James Reilly, the Irish Health Minister, who declared, "This is my key priority during the Irish presidency." He added, "I'm personally committed to stopping smoking."
The tobacco lobby is notoriously powerful in Brussels, but prefers to operate in the background, but Michiel Reerink a board member of the Confederation of European Community Cigarette Manufacturers (CECCM) said that he didn't want children to start smoking but protested about the directive, which he even said was illegal, and that there was no evidence that graphic warnings would deter smokers and would damage the single market.
There were several MEPs who, while announcing their deep concern over children taking up smoking, each had one unique little issue that made them object to the directive.
These included the issue of free choice, neglecting that nicotine is addictive and, by definition an addict doesn't have a free choice. Others said that slim cigarettes should be exempt because the member hadn't seen a child smoking one. Others were concerned about added flavours, saying that some people enjoyed them, others that the changes to packaging would make counterfeiting easier.
And there was the issue of jobs and the economy, with some suggesting that governments needed the revenues.
Borg was adamant that there was no real economic case against the directive, noting that smoking costs Europe €23 billion a year in healthcare costs alone. To choose to fight smoking, given that financial burden was, the Commissioner said, "A no brainer."
The Irish minister also said, "I don't think this is a choice between lives or jobs, that's not a choice we should ever make. Lives come first." Enditem
