Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-13-Speech-2-100"

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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, smoking is unhealthy and smokers should be aware of this. Sound and clear warnings about all kinds of diseases and disorders are therefore, in our opinion, a matter of greatest importance. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the rapporteur on the dynamism and perseverance he has displayed in this connection. The European Union too, should know that smoking is unhealthy. In fact, it should put its money where its mouth is. The Tobacco Directive is a good opportunity to demonstrate that the internal market is not just about the free movement of goods. We have to attach clear health requirements to the goods within the internal market. It is not just the tar and nicotine yields which are at issue here, but also mainly additives. Additives which encourage addiction should be banned at the earliest opportunity, as far as I am concerned. The other aspect of the Union policy is the issue of tobacco subsidies. It would indicate a lack of consistency if we continued subsidising tobacco products in the knowledge that smoking is unhealthy. If phasing out subsidies has social and financial implications for the tobacco growers in the poorest regions, we are all jointly responsible for finding a solution. Smoking is unhealthy. We are all agreed on this, but should we be sharing this with the entire world? This is one of the most interesting and principle questions in today’s debate. It would be a considerable change in policy if we were to impose European standards on other countries. If this change were extended to other fields, it could mean that European companies would only produce for the European market. This would, as such, lead to a certain degree of regionalisation of the world economy, a regionalisation which, in the case of the tobacco industry, would be at the expense of the position of Europe-based companies. The question is whether we want this. To impose standards on other countries can come across as presumptuous, moralistic or patronising. After all, other countries can set their own standards which industry has to comply with. A sound approach, however, would be to make the European standard compulsory in the case of export to countries where such standards are lacking. In this way, we would at least avoid other countries, especially Third-World countries, being lumbered with second-rate cigarettes."@en1

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