Tobacco advertising dispute smoulders on

Date: 27/11/1997

By Leyla Linton

HOPES of agreement on proposals to outlaw tobacco advertising across the EU when health ministers meet next week have been dealt a further blow, amid signs that Austria is likely to join the ranks of those opposed to a ban.

Vienna is expected to abstain or join other member states in voting against the plan at the crunch meeting next Thursday (4 December).

As negotiations between member states intensified this week, Commission sources said Germany and Greece remained opposed to the proposed ban, and the UK was still insisting that it could only support the measure if it included an exemption for Formula One motor racing. Denmark was understood to be ambivalent about the plan, but likely to support it in the end. But if Austria votes against and other member states refuse to agree to the British demand, supporters will not be able to muster enough votes to push it through.

Ahead of the meeting, it appeared unlikely that London would win the argument over Formula One, with both France and Italy stating that they did not want the sport to be exempted.

Ever since the controversy blew up over the UK's change of heart on Formula One, officials working for Health Commissioner Pádraig Flynn have warned that such an exemption would not be "saleable to the other member states".

Flynn had hoped that the change of British government in May, which brought in an administration committed to tougher anti-smoking measures, would finally tip the balance among member states in favour of a ban on tobacco advertising.

But his hopes were dashed by the UK's controversial demands. Under the proposal now on the table, there would be a three-year phase-out period for sports sponsorship once the directive came into force.

Flynn's spokeswoman Barbara Nolan said this week that extending this period for Formula One alone was unlikely to be acceptable to most other member states, as it could raise competition problems. "Why would you allow one type of sport to be exempt?" she said. But she suggested that a compromise might be possible on extending the time allowed for all sports to be weaned off tobacco sponsorship.

A British official said the UK government remained fully committed to securing a common position at next week's meeting of health ministers if a solution could be found for the "specific problem" of Formula One racing.

The UK argues that if the sport were denied tobacco sponsorship, it would simply move outside the EU. It insists that argument cannot be applied to other sports because they are not so "mobile".

The UK's demand for exemption for Formula One racing has plunged the Blair government into controversy at home, after revelations that the Labour Party received a 1.25-million-ecu donation from Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone just before the general election. It has since agreed to return the money.