Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-13-Speech-2-106"
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"en.20000613.10.2-106"2
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"Mr President, it is very difficult to find new things to say at the end of this kind of debate. Allow me therefore to say something slightly provocative, which I relish doing: when I listen attentively and hear confirmed what I have known to be the case for thirty years, i.e. that smoking is dangerous – we all know that is the case and have done for thirty years – then I ask myself why we do not actually ban the production of cigarettes. It would be very much the logical thing to do and perhaps the Commission could give some thought to the matter. But I would not wish to overdo being provocative and will become a little more serious. I have this to say to the Commission: if we are serious, not just about creating transparency and informing people, but above all, about trying to make a harmful product as tolerable as possible – assuming we can – then surely one of the first things we need to do is to clarify the issue of additives.
I ask myself, and would like to know from the Commission, why there is still no harmonisation, no approximation of permitted additives? Why does the European Union not have a list of permitted additives, or a regulation specifying permitted amounts? What is stopping us from drawing up a positive list and labelling accordingly? We should put our money where our mouth is. That is not what is happening here. There is another point I would like to add: why are we not being consistent in our approach and harmonising taxation, if we are convinced that cigarettes are harmful? Why are you doing nothing in this respect? I, for one, would support you if you did. Why are we not going to harmonise taxation, preferably at a high level? I urge all the honourable members who have spoken today to support this. Harmonisation of taxation at a high level within the European Union. If we know that smoking is dangerous then we cannot have a situation where tobacco is being used and consumed in one Member State at a high rate of taxation, and at a very low rate in another Member State. Do something about this please, Mr Byrne, and put your money where your mouth is in this respect as well.
In my next point I would like to raise the issue of subsidies. Even if this point does not belong here, I know that we must raise it nonetheless, Mr Byrne. If you are serious about protecting people’s health, then when it comes to the budget, I would like to see you fight to have subsidies spent on something other than tobacco cultivation!"@en1
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