Strasbourg, 15/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - Following its rapporteur's recommendation (Greek Socialist Giorgio Katiforis) on Thursday, the European Parliament rejected the European Commission's proposal to amend the 1992 and 1995 directives on the structure and levels of excise duty levied on manufactured tobacco products by 136 to 330 with 24 abstentions. Commissioner Frits Bolkestein said that he would refer the "regrettable" vote to the Commission next week, adding that the Treaty was "clear" on this point (alluding to the fact that it was simply a consultation of the European Parliament and so the Commission is not actually obliged to withdraw its proposal), indicating that the situation was "unusual" since the Commission's proposal is what the Parliament had demanded in 1996. The CSU MEP Berndt Posselt said that the proposal was "wrong" and that either way, the Commission should take account of the fact that there had been European elections since 1996.
The Commission's proposal aimed to amend the 1992 directive on cigarettes to ensure a greater harmonisation of taxation within the EU and the minimum excise duty to be levied on cigarettes throughout the Community; and amend the current definition of cigars in order to extend the scope of cigarette taxation to products similar to cigarettes.