http://www.europarltv.europa.eu/en/player.aspx?pid=759f7750-600e-45a3-a9c0-a5bf00dfca63
MEPs urge the Commission not to extend an anti-smuggling and anti-counterfeiting deal with Philip Morris International (PMI), saying the focus should instead be on using legislative tools.
This motion has passed clearly.
What we need is track and trace and due diligence, first of all in raw cut tobacco. If we do something at the start of the production chain rather than at the end, we will quickly come to a result. Today, the growing problem of cheap whites requires us to continue to work with our Member States to tackle it. Madame Commissioner, let’s not pretend that the tobacco industry is our friend. It’s an opponent instituting legal proceedings against the tobacco directive. The inquirers had to conclude, and that’s very important, that the cooperation with PMI has not demonstrably benefited public health.
Extending the deal with Philip Morris is like trusting the fight against organised crime to Al Capone.