Brussels, 05/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 5 September, the European Parliament's conference of presidents decided to postpone the vote on the review of the tobacco directive until 10 September. The vote was initially planned for 10 September next week.
The EPP Group fought hard for the postponement, followed by the ECR and ALDE, with MEPs from these groups considering that there was not enough time to assess fully all the amendments put forward on the text (the deadline had been set for 4 September). Several of them, however, had the objective of not classifying the electronic cigarette as a medicinal product - a very sensitive issue (see EUROPE 10914). Apparently some EPP MEPs found it hard to accept the hard line adopted by the rapporteur, Linda McAvan (S&D, UK), on this issue. McAvan remains particularly intransigent on three points - the health warnings, the ban on slim cigarettes, and the ban on flavourings - and she hopes for a vote coming close to the position of the environment and public health committee whose report was adopted on 10 July (the industry committee and the agriculture committee also delivered a non-binding opinion). McAvan did not want the vote to be postponed, believing that any further delay played into the tobacco industry's favour - the tobacco industry staking on a lack of time for the negotiators to discuss the issue before the European elections in spring 2014. McAvan has categorically rejected the allegations of two Polish MEPs accusing her of being influenced by a consultant from Burson-Marsteller, a group which includes several large pharmaceutical companies among its clients (see EUROPE 10908).
In a press release, Françoise Grossetête (EPP, France) also deplores the postponement of the vote, and stands totally apart from the position adopted by the EPP. She criticises the tobacco industry's intense lobbying of MEPs. “The tobacco industry's lobbying has pulled it off in delaying the adoption of the report (…) Because he had a strong demand for health protection, John Dalli had to resign from his post as health commissioner on the basis of unfounded rumours. The tobacco industry can now boast about a new victory in its strategy of obstructing the directive”, Grossetête deplored (our translation).
The Greens-EFA Group openly expresses its anger through the voice of its co-leader, Rebecca Harms, believing that the centre-right groups have “shamelessly” bowed to the tobacco industry. “This is a cynical exercise designed to buy time for the tobacco lobby (…) This is all the more outrageous as it was the European Parliament that had pushed the Commission to deliver the proposal as soon as possible”, Harms said. In the view of Carl Schlyter MEP (Greens-EFA, Sweden), who is tasked with public health issues in the Greens, the EPP is pursuing a double-strike strategy - postponing the vote to buy time and pushing amendments to weaken the report. (IL/transl.fl)