Brussels, 07/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - Unitab, the European association of tobacco growers, has responded to the latest recommendations from the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the sector. The WHO working group on the framework convention on tobacco control (FCTC), which recently agreed on a draft protocol, has taken a swipe at the industry in proposing a raft of measures which, Unitab says, will harm the 85,000 European tobacco growers and their 400,000 workers.
“We have obtained the WHO conclusions and we are disappointed at some stances. … Unable to do anything about the problems related to tobacco consumption, WHO has decided to turn its attention to tobacco production”, said Unitab Secretary General François Vedel.
Among the measures viewed by Unitab as “excessive and unjust” are the WHO proposals to ban the formalisation by contract of agreements between raw tobacco suppliers and buyers and also to restrict both the area devoted to tobacco growing and the times when it is allowed. “Worse, it wants to end quality improvement policies on which the comparative advantage of European tobacco growing is based and refuses to promote alternative uses of tobacco.”
These measures will do nothing to change consumption and will succeed only in making the situation of growers, already jeopardised by changes in the common agricultural policy (CAP), even more precarious, Unitab predicts. “We are already facing serious problems of competitiveness on the global market and now they want to take away our few plus points”, lamented Vedel.
He feels, too, that the opinion of some stakeholders present during the discussions had not been followed. “Three producer countries, Greece, Italy and Hungary, attended the negotiations. None of their voices was listened to. The European Commission, briefed by DG Agri, says that the conclusions of the report do not reflect the discussions.” The Commission has not confirmed these comments.
On 4 April, after four years of negotiations, WHO agreed a proposal for a protocol which will be presented at the fifth session of the Conference of the Parties, which will take place in Seoul, South Korea, on 17 November. The text will then be put out for debate and adoption if it gathers the necessary 40 ratifications.
Vedel is calling for a return to agricultural and social reality: “Before the conference in November, States and players on the ground must make their voices heard to counterbalance the influence of univocal and Manichaean pressure groups”, he said.
Unitab is due to hold its biannual congress in Budapest in October. This will provide the opportunity for discussion of the future of a sector which Unitab believes to be at a crucial turning point in view of the manifold pressures bearing on it. “The European Commission is due to bring forward its proposal on the review of the tobacco products directive in the second half of the year. There will also be the reform of the CAP and, of course, the conference in Seoul at which the draft protocol will be presented. We will be active on all of these fronts”, Vedel stated. (EL/transl.rt)