Good Prospects for Stronger EU Smoke-free Policy

Padraig Flynn: Let«s get the job done

adraig Flynn, European Commissioner with responsibility for Public Health, has been unrelenting in pursuing smoke-free policies in the EU. His sights are now set on achieving a Union-wide ban on tobacco advertising and upgrading measures to cut environmental smoking.

How will the EU' recent declaration concerning tobacco use be put into effect?

"I hope that before too long we will be able to eliminate the sophisticated advertising of a product which we know to be a major danger to the public's health."
--Commissioner Padraig Flynn

The Commission's Communication on reducing tobacco consumption was adopted in December 1996. It is currently being examined by the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers and other interested parties. I am awaiting the reaction to this document before I bring forward proposals for appropriate measures or actions. I hope to indicate the progress achieved in a report which will be published towards the end of this year.

What is the state of play concerning smoking bans in public places to cut passive smoking?

At the end of 1986, I presented a report on national regulations on smoking in public places. This report shows that legislative rules are now in place in each member State. Unfortunately however, those rules are not always applied in practice. Two areas are of particular concern to me: firstly, Member States have not yet succeeded in removing smoking from the school environment; secondly, the position regarding the protection of non-smokers in public places such as restaurants and bars is very unsatisfactory. This is a problem not only for the clients of such establishments but also the staff who may be exposed to environmental smoking over a number of years. The situation must be addressed as a matter of urgency.

The issue of tobacco subsidies has been seen as an obstacle in efforts to coordinate a consistent EU policy on tobacco.

The Commission adopted a report on the organisation of the tobacco market simultaneously with its Communication on reducing tobacco consumption. I decided to link the two issues in order to demonstrate that reform of the tobacco market and the promotion of public health must be seen together. I am not happy with the continuation of the subsidy system which I strongly argued against, but the recent report on the tobacco market goes at least some way to reducing the inconsistencies of this system.

I hope that this report will lead to a fundamental re-examination of the economic basis for this subsidy system, and stimulate a real attempt to find alternative economic activities for the producers concerned.

What is your position on other aspects of the need to reform the EU tobacco regime?

"If the governments think we're going down without a fight, we've got news for them."
Philip Morris advertisement published in Australia, 1993.

The improvements proposed to the organisation of the tobacco market are in the nature of fine tuning. They regrettably do not address the basic question of whether we can still justify supporting the production of a crop which is responsible for so much damage to public health.

The arguments about jobs and import substitution are without foundation and only serve to distract attention from the real issue. The money we spend on growing this crop could be much more usefully invested in the same areas, without any net loss of jobs.

Secondly, much of what we are producing is exported as or below cost to countries outside the Union because it finds no market here. The argument that if we abolish our subsidies, imports will flood our market is therefore a particularly poor one. I can only repeat that it is now time for serious reflection on finding alternatives to these subsidies. Alternatives that give producers a fair time to convert.

What other initiatives are needed to tackle tobacco issues in the EU area?

I welcome the recent moves to support my proposal to ban tobacco advertising across the Union. This proposal has been blocked for too long due, amongst other things, to the considerable pressure exerted by the tobacco industry. The situation may now be about to change. I hope that before too long we will be able to eliminate the sophisticated advertising of a product which we know to be a major danger to the public's health.

I also hope that the council and the European Parliament will react favourably to my Communication on smoking prevention. This will mean that the Commission can move forward on a series of fronts to encourage people not to begin smoking and to create the conditions for a more healthy society. I am greatly heartened by all those who have supported my efforts on this issue and I hope for continued backing when I bring forward new proposals and actions. n

Interview by Mark Waller

Smoke Free Europe - A Forum for Networks - 14 AUG 1997

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