Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-13-Speech-2-107"
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"en.20000613.10.2-107"2
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"Mr President, may I start by declaring an interest in this debate: I am a passionate non-smoker and I wish to share my passion with other Members of the House. But I am also passionate about something else, that is, deregulation in the field of employment and the opportunity for Member States to become increasingly competitive in the global market place. The idea that we should ban not only the marketing of certain types of cigarette and tobacco products, but also their manufacture, in other words, that we ban the possibility to export, is wrong in principle and absurd in practice, given that those markets exist and flourish elsewhere.
I should like to quote two brief articles from today's
for those who have not seen them. One is in the letters page and is headed "Tobacco proposal would be a slap in the face for workers". One paragraph says that if exports are banned, it will deeply affect our competitiveness in world export markets and may cost hundreds of jobs in Germany alone, maybe even cause the regional closure of plants. That is a comment from one of the leading trade unions in Germany. On the facing page is an article written jointly by the prime ministers of the UK and Spain, not about the tobacco directive but about market liberalisation, which says: "It is so important to avoid the sort of heavy-handed regulation that could drive investment and jobs out of Europe".
That, Mr President, is what we are in danger of doing – we are not just stopping exports of cigarettes we are actually promoting the export of jobs. We have an opportunity today to send two signals – first, that we care very much about health, but also that we care very much about jobs, employment and deregulation.
The final point I would make is a little plea to the Commissioner. We have had this conversation before, but when we vote today on the labels, can we please have a larger-scale version as posters and spread them throughout the institutions so that we are not just talking to others but also addressing ourselves. If his support cannot be strong, it can at least be mild!"@en1
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