Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-03-14-Speech-4-022"
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"en.20020314.2.4-022"2
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"Madam President, I must first thank Mr Cunha for his excellent report. It is a considerable achievement, if we take into account that he has had to cope with a scenario created by the Commission, which, as stated by a previous speaker, is plainly hypocritical.
We might agree that tobacco is a danger to health. Taking this argument to the extreme, one could suggest banning the import of tobacco. I suspect, however, that few Members of this House would be prepared to vote in favour of closing our borders to tobacco from the United States. Treasury Ministers are delighted with the income generated by tobacco, whilst Health Ministers rail against it.
Just now, for the first time, charges of smuggling have been brought against multinational companies bringing tobacco into the European Union and attempting to avoid paying the duty due.
There are a number of lessons to be drawn from that and from the prohibitionist experiments conducted in Europe and elsewhere. In the first place, ceasing cultivation without stopping imports has no impact on the availability of a harmful substance. What it does is make the Community market more attractive to goods from third countries.
Secondly, prohibition does not stop consumption. Instead it boosts smuggling, to the detriment of health checks and of the Treasury.
Thirdly, tobacco production generates more employment and stimulates more economic activity than many other agricultural practices such as meat production. Yet the Commission often displays undue leniency towards these other practices.
In conclusion I also believe that the confusion the Commission may create between the documents submitted to the European Council at Göteborg and the conclusions of the Council is totally unacceptable, and drastically alters the institutional balance. In my view therefore, the Commission’s assessment of the Göteborg European Council destabilises the principles and operation of the Community institutional relationship. I trust the European Parliament will reject it, taking account of the Council’s Legal Services’ contribution to the work of the COMIT."@en1
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