On Thursday 28 November in Strasbourg, the European Parliament failed to reach agreement on a joint resolution by several political groups to evaluate the EU Council recommendation on smoke- and aerosol-free environments.
This situation satisfies the MEPs, many of whom applauded the rejection of the joint EPP, S&D, Renew Europe and Greens/EFA resolution: 152 votes in favour of the joint resolution, 378 against and 26 abstentions. The alternative resolutions from the various groups met with the same fate (the EPP resolution, for example, was rejected with 150 votes in favour, 342 against and 14 abstentions).
Reactions were swift after the vote. “The European Parliament failed to protect children and young people today, as a coalition of EPP and far-right groups blocked key recommendations to extend public bans against the harms of e-cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products. As a result, the Socialist and Democrat Group was forced to vote against the watered-down resolution in order to preserve the integrity of anti-smoking policies”, explains the S&D Group.
Peter Liese (EPP, German), for his part, advised the European Commission to “withdraw and thoroughly revise” the proposed recommendation. Smoking and vaping are prohibited in outdoor restaurant areas. “The scientific basis for this request is rather flimsy”, says Mr Liese. Given the difficulties facing the hotel and restaurant sector, the proposal is “disproportionate”, in his view. Worse still, he finds it “disturbing” that the Commission equates e-cigarettes with traditional cigarettes.
MEPs were divided on the content of the recommendation proposed by the Commission, particularly on the scope of the bans, as shown by the amendments adopted during the voting session and the plenary debate the previous evening (see EUROPE 13484/14). The EU Council is currently working on adopting this recommendation.
On behalf of the EPP, France’s Laurent Castillo declared on Wednesday evening that “Member States are free in their anti-smoking policies. We don’t want to give the impression that the European Union is banning smoking in places like café and restaurant terraces”. He said he was in favour of creating smoke-free environments around schools and hospitals, while calling for real evidence to be provided on the harmfulness of electronic cigarettes, which he said should be able to “help those who smoke to quit without becoming an attractive gadget for younger people and non-smokers”.
National competences? Pietro Fiocchi (ECR, Italian) stressed that it was “not a good idea to equate alternatives with traditional smoking”. A statement issued by the group said that it considered the ban on smoking in the open air to be a “violation of individual freedom”.
Czech MEP Ondřej Knotek, speaking on behalf of the PfE group, argued that the EU should not interfere excessively in the lives of Europeans and that the European institutions should respect “national competences and sovereignty”.
Dangerous amendments, according to the left-leaning groups. Alessandra Moretti (S&D, Italian) took up the cause, stressing that the smoking ban should be extended to all open spaces where people gather, but also to new tobacco products, such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco.
Unfortunately, “many people on the right and others have difficulty accepting scientific evidence: they propose dangerous amendments that deny the positions of science and falsely present new products as being less dangerous. This is unacceptable”, said Ms Moretti.
Ignazio Roberto Marino (Greens/EFA, Italian) supported Ms Moretti’s comments, adding that public health should “take precedence over the economic interests of industry”.
The proposed recommendation should also be “associated with the ongoing work to evaluate EU tobacco rules. In this way, we will ensure that the EU continues to have a comprehensive, up-to-date and effective set of tobacco control measures”, said the Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, during Wednesday’s debate in Parliament. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)