Reform of Union tobacco sector set to smoulder on

Date: 05/12/1996

By Michael Mann

THE controversy over the Union's support for tobacco producers is set to rumble on for at least another two weeks, after Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler agreed this week to reconsider certain aspects of his plan to reform the sector.

But a spokesman for Fischler stressed that the changes were more likely to be a question of presentation than any substantive amendments to the proposals. Officials will also look more closely at the socio-economic aspects of the tobacco support system.

A lengthy debate at yesterday's (4 December) European Commission meeting saw opinions divided between those supporting continued aid for tobacco growers and those falling in behind Health Commissioner Pádraig Flynn's call for an end to subsidies.

Sources said Flynn's line was backed by Commissioners Neil Kinnock, Ritt Bjerregaard, Anita Gradin, Sir Leon Brittan and Karel van Miert. Commissioners Manuel Marín, Monika Wulf-Mathies and Erkki Liikanen reportedly called for more far-reaching reforms than those envisaged by Fischler.

His approach was supported by Commissioners Yves-Thibault de Silguy, Christos Papoutsis and Marcelino Oreja, as well as Commission President Jacques Santer.

In a lengthy policy document, Fischler expressed his clear preference for a continuation of the subsidy system to support the estimated 150,000 people in the EU who depend on tobacco production for a living. He insisted it was wrong to set spending on subsidies against expenditure on smoking prevention, as the latter remained largely a matter for national competence.

But aware of the growing political sensitivity of the EU's 'schizophrenic' policy on tobacco, the Directorate-General for agriculture (DGVI) has also proposed key changes. Fischler wants to raise the proportion of subsidies set aside for research projects and anti-smoking measures from 1&percent; to 2&percent; of the total. He has also introduced for the first time the concept of buy-out schemes for farmers prepared to leave the sector.

Aware of charges that much of the tobacco produced in the EU is of low quality, Fischler wants to vary aid amounts according to quality.

Flynn's officials claimed that this week's Commission discussion marked a major turning point in EU tobacco policy. The Commission will return to the issue on 18 December.