EU commissioner John Dalli forced to resign over snuff scandal
I am a rather rabid anti-tobacconist and even refuse to buy stocks in tobacco companies due to the simple fact that I would hate receiving the dividends. But Swedish Match should get some credit for this move as they could have gotten access to a wide European market in exchange for 50 million euro.Source
John Dalli, the European Commissioner, has resigned after the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) completed its investigation after a complaint by snus manufacturer Swedish Match. The EU press release says “The company alleged that a Maltese entrepreneur had used his contacts with Mr. Dalli to try to gain financial advantages from the company in return for seeking to influence a possible future legislative proposal on tobacco products, in particular on the EU export ban on snus.”
The press release goes onto say “The OLAF final report was sent to the Commission on 15 October. It found that the Maltese Entrepreneur had approached the company using his contacts with Mr. Dalli and sought to gain financial advantages in exchange for influence over a possible future legislative proposal on snus.”
I’ve written before on how safer forms of nicotine delivery, such as snus and electronic cigarettes, are sidelined in favour of nicotine delivery products produced by the pharmaceutical industry that spends upwards of €40 million lobbying Brussels to get their corporate case across. Let me remind you that snus, for some unfathomable reason, is banned in every EU country apart from Sweden. There is no medical or social reason for this to be the case.
It seems that Dalli and the intermediary in this case, Silvio Zammit, previously the Deputy Mayor of Sliema (Malta), are both from the Maltese centre-right Partit Nazzjonalista and obviously knew each other. They, in return for a substantial payment, were prepared to broker a meeting between Swedish Match and Dalli with a view to getting the legislation on snus in the EU reformed.
The whole snuff business is also something that I have felt to be discrimination against a small nation from the start. Snuff is essentially tobacco that you put under your lip to provide you with a nicotine kick. From a health perspective this mean that you get all the normal negatives from nicotine but avoid the lung damage associated with smoking. Despite this the European Union maintains a strict ban on snuff outside of Sweden.
Sweden have made moves to prevent this counter productive trade restriction. But lobbyism in Brussels have been both fierce and brutal from anti-smoking lobbyists with backing from the pharmaceutical industry. The most extreme result being a 2003 report where sections proving snuff to be less harmful than other tobacco products were covered up by tip-ex.
So should snuff be allowed without significant bribes being paid to European Commissioners and how can we prevent EU commissioners from getting involved in serious bribery scandals every 10-15 years? The last time the entire commission was forced to resign (more info) but this time it seems to have been a lone commissioner looking to make the most out of his power.Source
The EU Commission is threatening to ban Swedish snus. But Aftonbladet can reveal that a large part of the EU’s knowledge base is built upon a biased, censored report.
They went so far as to Tipp-ex sections of the report, said a source with deep insight.
In 2003 the European Network for Smoking Prevention, ENSP, was asked by the EU Commission to write a report about Swedish snus.
The job was contracted out to Dutch consulting company Research voor Beleid. In their report, “Lift the ban on oral tobacco,” the Dutch concluded that the snus ban ought to be lifted across the EU.
But when ENSP received the document, the contents of which contradicted its own convictions in the matter, the group decided to re-write the report. What they presented instead was a completely different conclusion: that snus is dangerous and causes cancer in the oral cavity.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by priam11
