Brussels, 09/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - John Dalli, the former Maltese commissioner for health and consumer protection who was forced to resign, is preparing his defence to clear his name of suspected influence peddling in an affair involving the Swedish tobacco producer, Swedish Match, and a Maltese businessman, Silvio Zammit (see EUROPE 10717). At the same time, his compatriot, Tonio Borg, the commissioner appointed on 24 October to take Dalli's place, is preparing to be heard, on Tuesday 13 November, by the committee on the environment, public health and food safety (ENVI) at the European Parliament, chaired by Matthias Groote (S&D, Germany). For three hours (from 3.00pm to 6.00pm), the commissioner designate will be “grilled” by MEPs who are keen to make sure that this politician from the Maltese nationalist party, who is a lawyer by profession and foreign minister since March 2008 and parliamentarian since 1992, is indeed the most suitable person for the job. Borg will be judged on his competence, his European commitment and his personal independence, as well as on his knowledge of the potential portfolio under his responsibility.
High risk questions. Written answers already provided by Borg to the questionnaire from the Parliament and his declaration of interest give a first indication of the person facing the probe. Borg mainly underlines his experience as a parliamentarian to guarantee that he will be able to account for his actions and services before the European Parliament. He assures MEPs that he will have constructive dialogue with them “based on frankness, transparency, mutual trust, communication and regular exchange of information” (our translation throughout), and guarantees that his relations with DG Sanco at the Commission will be based on “loyalty, confidence, transparency, exchange of information and mutual support”. Given the role played by the lobbies in pushing John Dalli to resign half way through his term of office means that MEPs will no doubt quiz Borg on his ability to stand up to pressure groups. As his ultra-conservative stances on the rights of homosexuals and abortion are subjects of controversy, he will also be cross-examined on the compatibility of those positions with European values in the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The S&D Group warned, on 25 October, that, given some of Borg's comments on the rights of homosexuals, they intend to interrogate him on the compatibility of his ideas with fundamental European values pertaining to civil freedoms and non-discrimination. Borg will no doubt also have to answer to examination on his possible links with a former Kazakh ambassador in Austria, Rakhat Aliyev, who is suspected of money laundering and of kidnapping with demand for ransom. All these accusations are vigorously denied by Borg who considers them to be “slander and lies”. “For the commissioner designate, the matter is now clarified”, said Pia Ahrenkilde, the spokesperson for the European Commission, speaking on Friday 9 November. In addition to these controversial, high-risk issues for Borg's appointment, the hearing will focus on the work that he will be called upon to carry out in his future post. The commissioner-designate has already pointed out that a priority of his mandate would be to “ensure implementation of existing or future legislative proposals”.
Health is a priority. In his written answers, Borg states he plans to pay special attention to the health sector by working with member states to ensure the viability of health systems that have been adversely affected by the economic crisis. The new commissioner, whoever he may be, should ensure follow-up for medical devices, clinical trials and organ transplants for which new rules have recently been adopted (see EUROPE 10657, 10697 and 10706) as well as information on medicines, a dossier that is currently blocked at the Council of Ministers. He will, however, mainly inherit the explosive dossier relating to review of the directive on tobacco products dating back to 2001, the banana skin on which John Dalli slipped up, leading to his resignation (see EUROPE 10711 and 10712). Open to public consultation since 2010, the proposal was, initially, to be presented in summer 2011. After much delay, Dalli's proposal finalised by his services at the end of February 2012 has undergone further blocking in recent months, especially by the legal service and the secretariat general of the European Commission, causing several countries that spearhead the fight against tobacco, Ireland especially, to vent their anger. Suspected influence peddling on the part of the former commissioner will have the effect of delaying the process still further, Frédéric Vincent, the European Commission spokesman for health, admits, saying that the inter-services consultation will not happen until March 2013 and that, as a result, the proposal will not be presented until spring 2013 (the last casting of the timetable had scheduled December 2012 for presentation of the proposal, before the “Dalligate” scandal broke out). The process of appointing the new commissioner may take weeks, if not months, if he does not get through the Parliament hearing successfully first time.
While about ten member states urged Dalli to present his proposal as quickly as possible, so that it might be examined under Irish Presidency that is to take over from the Cypriot Presidency on 1 January 2013 and should be firmer regarding tobacco policy than the following presidencies (Lithuania, Greece and Italy), nine Irish MEPs from different political groups wrote to the president of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, after Dalli's resignation, in order to put the same request to him to keep to the timetable set. “He was pushing for strong anti-tobacco legislation. This affair should not delay the legislation. It's far too important to allow the tobacco lobby from delaying it further”, said Nessa Childers (S&D, who initiated the idea of the letter. Matthias Groote, who chairs the committee, regretted for his part that the “confusion at the Commission is delaying legislation that is essential for health”.
What is the timetable for the tobacco directive? Suspicions that the tobacco lobby had been involved in Dalli's downfall in order to delay his proposal which does not serve its members' interests were very quickly made by NGOs working in the field of public health, especially the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA), whose premises were burgled during the night of 17-18 October. In their view, it was a targeted attack as confidential documents and four computers had been stolen, containing information specific to review of the directive. “There is lobbying everywhere - during dinners and conferences, and I do not believe that we are really aware of its true extent”, said Dalli. According to the NGOs, the fear of seeing the procedure postponed till the new European Parliament legislature (in June 2014) and of seeing years go by before the new directive is adopted is very real as, according to Dalli, “it would mean going back to square one in the next legislature”.
The anti-tobacco proposal would mean real progress. Dalli had warned in April 2012 that he would be very firm. According to information that has filtered down, proposals would maintain a ban on “snus”, a smokeless chewing tobacco produced by Swedish Match, which was at the origin of the complaint filed against Dalli (only Sweden had received an exemption for snus, pursuant to its EU accession treaty in 1994). Dalli had also foreseen other restrictive measures such as a ban on the industry designing attractive packaging (aimed at young people and girls in particular) and, instead, advocated neutral packaging without logos or brand names. He also included other substances under the measures such as flavours for promoting consumption of tobacco products from a very young age (such as chocolate and strawberry). Proposals would also include provisions likely to fill the legal voids in electronic cigarette regulation (in particular the regulation of the dose of nicotine) and visible dissuasive graphic advertising on both sides of cigarette and tobacco packets.
Following on Dalli's heels for GMOs? In the agri-food sector, Borg's top priority would be to “complete the work of his predecessors at the level of the food supply chain and to modernise, improve and simplify our high regulated internal market with regard to animals, plants, seeds, foodstuffs and animal feed” by guaranteeing “a high level of protection” for consumers. The priority proposal that he plans to make will relate to spending in the field of food and feed for 2014-2020. Later, there will be proposals on animal cloning and novel foods.
Borg's written answers do not explicitly mention GMOs. MEPs are unlikely, however, not to quiz him on the fate that he plans to give to the 26 genetically modified plants awaiting authorisation for cultivation in the EU, including ten that are herbicide resistant (see EUROPE 10725), given that to date only one maize (Mon 810 pending renewal of its authorisation) is grown in the EU, and one transgenic potato (Amflora by BASF). It was the authorisation for the cultivation of that potato that, in April 2010, meant that Dalli, who was a critic of the “emotional approach” to GMOs rather than “a scientific approach”, had been represented in a Greenpeace poster campaign as jointly responsible with José Manuel Barroso for the “indigestible menu” concocted for Europeans. The new commissioner will inherit a dossier that is in an impasse - the legislative proposal of July 2010 which aims to allow member states to restrict or ban on their territory the marketing authorisation for GMOs, presented by the Commission as “the” solution for breaking the impasse, is still blocked in Council. The polemic caused by the Seralini et al study on the long term effects of transgenic maize NK603 and the total RoundUp herbicide by Monsanto on the health of rats, and the quality of European scientific expertise in the EFSA evaluation of the long term risks for health and the environment, will certainly prompt questions during the commissioner-designate's hearing with respect to the implementation of the Environment Council conclusions of December 2008.
Protected and proactive consumer. During 2013, an initiative for strengthening product safety and an initiative on bank accounts are to be presented. Borg gives his assurance that he wants to contribute to their development. The commissioner-designate plans to put the consumer at the heart of the internal market and to place consumers at the heart of EU political action, as does the consumer agenda presented by Dalli, an agenda that Borg plans to implement. He will inherit the legislative package on the out-of-court settlement of consumer disputes (a draft directive and a draft regulation on online dispute resolution for consumer disputes, the so-called ODR regulation) presented on 29 November, which should be adopted by the end of the year (see EUROPE 10653). (AN/IL/transl.jl)