Strasbourg, 05/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - By approving the second Katiforis report on the European Commission's proposal aimed at amending the 1992 and 1995 directives on the structure and level of excise applicable to manufactured tobacco, the European Parliament approved some amendments to the proposal, which Commissioner Bolkestein regarded as a "step forward". Indeed, the European Parliament, which is simply consulted on the matter had, in an initial report by Greek Socialist Giorgio Katiforis, rejected the Commission's proposal (see EUROPE of 16 November, 2001, p.14).
We rejected that proposal for several reasons, and in particular because it risked having a negative impact on SMEs and the Union's southern countries (where prices would have increased) and the candidate countries, Giorgios Katiforis reaffirmed on Tuesday. Opinion broadly supported by the Greek Communist Efstratios Korakas, for whom it is hypocrisy to believe that a hike in the price of tobacco would lead to a reduction in consumption: according to him, the first to gain from the directive would be the large multinationals. On the contrary, British Labour MEP Mary Honeyball recalled that, in the United Kingdom, a rise in price of 10% would lead to a 4% fall in consumption, and Dutch liberal Jules Maaten referred to similar observations made in Sweden.
Parliament approved by 325 in favour, 151 against and 50 abstentions the amendments proposed by the rapporteur, essentially aiming at: - providing Member States with the choice between applying an overall minimum excise duty (specific excise and ad valorem excise, VAT excluded) set at 57% of the retail price (all taxes included) and 60 euro per 1000 units for cigarettes of the price category most in demand (instead of the Commission's proposed 70 euro) and (which is also new in relation to the Commission's proposal) a minimum global excise (VAT included) set at 71% of the price: - providing for not having to respect the minimum 57% rule those Member States which collect total excise of at least 85 euro (instead of the 100 proposed by the Commission) for cigarettes of the category of prices most in demand.