Brussels, 23 October 2014 – Among all the furore yesterday of the new Commission, the European Parliament also quietly voted against ending EU subsidies to tobacco crops (1). While on the one hand many MEPs so supportive of legislating in favour of health with regards to pharmaceutical products, it seems that over half of the EP is happy to continue pumping taxpayer’s money to a harmful industry (2) instead of supporting farmers to make the shift to a more health and sustainable crop (3), as part of a new CAP fit for today’s challenges.
“Taxpayers money, at a time of austerity and crisis, should not be used to support the production of a toxic crop that causes the death of thousands of Europeans and leaves us with massive societal costs,” said the EPHA President Peggy Maguire.
This extraordinary decision by the European Parliament appears even more backward in light of its recent commitment to tobacco control shown by adopting the revision of the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD). In addition, the vote is a direct conflagration of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), to which the EU is a signatory which is against subsidising tobacco growing.
“I was greatly disappointed with the outcome of the vote on tobacco subsidies. The new CAP should play a major role in tackling the current epidemic of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs), like cancer and heart disease and not subsidising tobacco farmers. Public health has to come first and these diseases are a huge threat to that as well as to Europe’s health budgets,” commented MEP Catherine Stihler (S&D, UK).
By supporting subsides of tobacco crops, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have served the interests of the tobacco industry rather than helped to erode measures that undermine public health in Europe. It would be far more better for both population health and sustainable cost-saving measures in healthcare expenditures if, MEPs enacted policies supporting the production and consumption of produce that help to prevent chronic diseases such as: fresh fruit, vegetables, pulses, legumes and whole grains instead. (4)
– Notes to the editors
(1) During yesterday’s plenary vote on the 2015 budget proposal, MEPs voted against ending tobacco subsidies by 386 to 268. MEPs voted to approve the European Parliament’s position on the budget by 464 votes to 186, with 46 abstentions, raising commitment appropriations to €146,348.9 million and payment appropriations to €146,416.5 million for 2015.
(2) Tobacco is the single largest avoidable health risk in the EU, accounting for nearly 700 000 premature deaths each year. Around 50% of smokers die prematurely (on average 14 years earlier).
(3) Economically sustainable alternatives to tobacco growing. Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control – Fifth session: Seoul, Republic of Korea, 12–17 November 2012.
(4) EPHA, along with appropriately 250 NGOs, EPHA signed up in early 2013 to an open letter from civil society calling for a public health friendly CAP reform.
– Contact information
Javier Delgado Rivera, Communications Coordinator- +32 2 233 38 76 or javier@epha.org
