As the European Parliament prepares to vote on the tobacco products directive in Strasbourg, the institutions and industry appear to be heading towards a collision course on how certain products should be regulated.
The legislation, which has proved controversial after apparent industry pressure to delay the vote until after the European Parliament elections (and with it an attendant new European Commission) has dominated pre-vote discussions. As it turned out, the conference of presidents in the European Parliament have allowed the vote to go ahead on 8 October.
The legislation essentially centres around five key issues; the main ones being regulation f next generation products, a ban on menthol and slim products, health warnings and packaging and e-cigarettes.
The last point has proved the most controversial, with particular focus on the activities of the tobacco giant Philip Morris, whose lobbying tactics have gained it huge scrutiny.
In an effort to have input into the directive, the company has hired 160 additional staff, primarily designed to target the EU institutions, has held around 230 meetings with MEPs, and, as an additional investment, spent €1.5 million on lobbying on this specific dossier.
“At some point lobbying amounts to intimidation,” one European Council source said. The main substance of the directive was negotiated under the Irish presidency of the firs half of this year. Irish sources acknowledge the industry tactics. Any splintering of the parliament will undermine its negotiating mandate with the council if it to receive a first reading. A second reading, which would mean picking-up the pieces from where this directive leaves off – disrupted, as it will be, by a new parliamentary and commission mandate in may next year – is something that benefits industry. The situation is “on a knife’s edge” according to council sources.
On 4 October, health ministers from 16 member states released a joint press staement urging an institutional agreement. Those member states were Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Malta, The Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Absent from the list are those “blocking minorities” as well as key tobacco-growing states such as Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Romania.
According to Irish sources in the council, who remain strong on clamping down on tobacco usage, they are confident an agreement can be reached under the Lithuanian presidency, which expires at the end of the year.
But even there is an acknowledgement of a steeping over the line from the “huge lobbying campaign.”
Tobacco giants Philip Morris International (PMI) and British American Tobacco (BAT) have both being lobbying heavily around the area of novel cigarette products and electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes); the latter being a particular concern of BAT, where it has stated ambitions to be the market leader. By 2023, it is predicted sales of e-cigarettes will outsell traditional cigarettes.
The intense lobbying assault caused much concern in Brussels, with accusations that the tobacco industry has being virtually writing amendments. Despite denials, the main amendments, largely tabled by centre-right MEPs, are close to how industry would like things. One centre-right MEP, Karl-Heinz Florenz, tried to resist the lobby effort, but was over-ruled by this EPP group. He has been dubbed “the good one” by the Greens, who want tougher regulations on tobacco products, including a ban on menthols cigarettes and plain packaging. Prominent health warnings should also be placed at the top of cigarette packets, rather than the bottom, as favoured by industry.
The group is also resistant to products such as cigarettes being covered by consumer legislation. However, the Greens admit that the numbers are stacked against them. “We don’t have enough liberals and right-wingers on our side” Green MEP Carl Schlyter said on 3 October. “There is a big risk we will lose e-cigarettes to consumer legislation.”
According to Green co-president, Rebecca Harms, the tobacco industry specifically targeted would-be allies amongst MEPs. Certain key member states, particularly those that benefit economically from tobacco, have also been identified as forming a potential blocking minority in council; France, Italy, Poland, and possibly also Germany and Spain.
The tobacco lobbying effort proved to be “a very dark experience” for the parliament, Harms told journalists on 3 October. “We have to re-thing the rules, of what happens between lawmakers in our house and representatives of industry.”
Harms, along with Shylter, the group’s negotiator on the directive, wrote to the European Parliament President, Martin Schulz, requesting a “zero tolerance” attitude for members who break conventions on meeting with representatives of the tobacco industry. The EU institutions are supposed to follow World Health Organisation rules on contact with the industry, but the Greens allege they are constantly breached. It was on this basis that European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso, justified his dismissal of former health commissioner John Dalli.
“You can draw clear conclusions from this,” said Schylter, “when Barroso sacks someone on these grounds, but there are no consequences for MEPs. They are breaking the rules, if not the actual law.”
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