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News server Romea.cz. Everything about Roma in one place

Planned EU tobacco regulations could cost many Romani people their only jobs

22 October 2012
3 minute read

A new directive on tobacco products which the European Commission is planning to submit next year is said to directly contradict the EU’s recently adopted Roma Inclusion Strategy, according to news server Euractiv.cz. The new legislation would ban some ingredients and flavorings mixed into Burley tobacco and would also impact tobacco growers in Africa, lobby groups and MEPs warned last week.

Cultivation of Burley tobacco is greatly favored in the EU-27. The EU annually produces 250 000 tons of tobacco, placing it at fifth place in the world after China, the USA, India and Brazil. Most tobacco is grown in Italy (36 % of the overall production of the EU-27), Poland (16%), Bulgaria (12 %) and Spain (12 %).

Hungarian MEP Kinga Göncz (Socialists), who sits on the EP’s Committee for Employment and who disagrees with adopting the new regulations, argues that 50 % of the 20 000 seasonal workers on tobacco plantations in Hungary are Romani people unqualified for any other work. She claims the cultivation of tobacco is, in many cases, their only labor market opportunity.

“When speaking of this directive we must discuss aspects of employment in areas where the Romani population lives. If we intend to bring about changes, they should be implemented gradually,” she said.

Illés Bényei, chair of the Hungarian Association of Tobacco Producers, said at the EP that the cultivation of tobacco creates a crime-free, safe environment for Romani workers, among whom there are many women. “This is important for the European strategy for including Romani people into society,” he said.

Impact on Africa

Tobacco cultivators are also making the argument that third countries also cultivate Burley tobacco. Introduction of these new rules would tangibly impact them as well as European producers.

“For example, in Malawi the cultivation of Burley tobacco represents 70 % of the state’s GDP and the sector employs half of the country’s population,” says Antonio Abrunhosa, chair of the International Tobacco Growers’ Association, of the situation in the small African country.

“If we ban the use of some ingredients, it will not impact consumption, because underground trade in those items will simply grow. Of course, in Africa this will influence more than four million workers and it will be up to the EU to help them,” he added.

EU Health Commissioner John Dalli, however, disagrees. “Farmers must protect their livelihoods, but we must protect human lives. We are speaking here of the aggressive marketing that convinces people to smoke despite the proven health risks. You are talking about trade here, but do you want me to trade in human lives because of 20 000 job opportunities?“

Encouragement for the mafia?Lobbyists also do not favor further regulations on tobacco products because they are convinced the mafia is the only group that would benefit from tighter restrictions. “If I were a mafia member, I would invest into this sector, because one of the best-selling tobacco brands will have restricted access to the market if the new rules really do apply, and smokers will simply go for smuggled goods,” believes François Vedel of the International Tobacco Growers’ Association.

Despite the fact that tobacco is cultivated here, the EU-27 is one of the world’s greatest tobacco importers, at 400 000 tons annually, making it fourth in the world, with 20 % of global imports. Smuggled cigarettes, which would most probably contain genetically modified tobacco, would flow into Europe primarily from China, according to Vedel.

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