THE WEEK THAT WAS... (October 07, 2013)

The battle of ‘Brussels’ this week is between members of the European Parliament and the pro-smoking lobby army. It is about the new Tobacco Products Directive, which means tighter regulation with the main-aim of preventing young people starting to smoke. The tobacco industry is trying hard to convince MEP’s to vote against the new regulation. Philip Morris reputedly spent €1.5 million to wine and dine with them and hired more than 160 lobbyists to ‘target’ the EU lawmakers, resulting in meetings with around one third of the entire parliament! These figures were unveiled last week by EP Green group leader, German MEP Rebecca Harms. She singled out tobacco giant Philip Morris and called the interaction ‘for this parliament a very dark experience’.

An unforeseen ally for the pro-smokers turned up this Monday morning: the European Economic and Social Committee. An EESC press release let it be known that "we have to stop young people from starting smoking in the first place. There's no doubt about it, health is the priority. But tighter regulation is not the solution… While it may cut the number of smokers, smuggling and counterfeiting will become an even greater problem. Tax revenues will also fall sharply…”. And the EESC about the proposal on the inclusion of health warnings, covering 75% of both faces of the cigarette pack: “this change in packaging may threaten jobs in the packaging industry... It would also undermine the legitimate intellectual and industrial rights of manufacturers to use their registered trademarks”.

Can you believe it? Light a cigarette and smoke for the economy, for industrial rights and against smuggling and counterfeiting! Don’t worry about your health. Especially not when you are young. Long live the EESC!