– We aim to guarantee that the Polish government is not passive against the WHO's very negative recommendations for the tobacco industry, in peculiar for tobacco cultivation.
WHO strives to extinguish tobacco cultivation, hits jobs, traditions, the multi-generational effort our growers have put into developing specified advanced quality tobacco – he emphasizes in an interview with Newseria Przemysław Noworyta, manager of the office of the Polish Tobacco Planters Union.
On 3 November in Warsaw, a protest was held between growers and tobacco processors
Recommendations of the planet wellness Organisation and planned changes to the EU TED taxation Directive rise expanding opposition to Polish tobacco growers. On November 3, in Warsaw, they protested against proposals that, as they emphasize, endanger thousands of jobs and could lead to the extinction of tobacco crops in Poland, which is 1 of the largest producers in the European Union. Farmers call on the government to defend the sector internationally.
On 3 November in Warsaw there was a protest of growers and processors of tobacco, who submitted a petition to the Chancellery of the president of the Council of Ministers with a request to take a clear stand towards the policy of the WHO and the European Commission.
The manufacture besides opposes the draft TED taxation Directive
In November, in Geneva, COP-11 will be held – Conference of the Parties to the WHO FCTC Framework Convention, during which recommendations will be discussed on the regulation of tobacco production, trade and promotion. According to the WHO documents, associate States are to search the gradual extinction of tobacco crops, the withdrawal of government support for the sector and the implementation of additional economical constraints.
The manufacture besides opposes the draft TED taxation directive prepared by the European Commission. It assumes, among another things, the excise treatment of natural tobacco leaf – the fresh rules would extend the EU definition of ‘customs tobacco’ to cover not only finished products, but besides raw, dried tobacco leaf, even before processing in industrial plants. In practice, this would mean that farmers and purchasing companies would gotta account for excise duties already at the agricultural production stage.
This is unbearable for tiny household businesses.
– The dried and unprocessed leaf would be subject to a akin excise work as presently covered by tobacco products. This would be very dangerous, even harmful to processors who are our recipients, due to the fact that these excise charges would simply destruct them – says Leszek Kwiatkowski, president of the Polish Tobacco Planters Union.
– Another issue is to rise – very drastic, respective twelve percent – excise safety for purchasing companies. If 1 company presently has around 5 million excise safety per year, then after what the European Commission is planning, the safety will increase to 300 million per year. This is unbearable for tiny household businesses – Bartłomiej Larwa from the Young Tobacco Planters Movement “Tobań from Poland” points out.
Polish farmers call for Poland to argue the WHO paper entirely
As the growers point out, the proposals from WHO and Brussels are unacceptable. An appeal to the government was signed, among others, by the Polish Tobacco Planters Association, the National Tobacco Association, the Youth Planters' Movement “Tobań from Poland” or the Lukowskie Association of Tobacco Planters. The joint paper indicates that Poland – as a planet leader in the production of high-quality tobacco utilized for tobacco products – can become 1 of the biggest losses made by the WHO and the European Commission.
The petition that growers have submitted to the NRPM concerns, among others, the November gathering of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO FCTC Framework Convention in Geneva. Polish farmers call for Poland to argue in full the WHO paper providing for the completion of government support for tobacco cultivation and for a typical of the Ministry of Agriculture and agrarian improvement to attend the meetings. The EU is expected to adopt its common position on this issue on days.
WHO and EC decisions mean the elimination of the tobacco manufacture in Poland and the European Union
– If the government does not stand on our side soon, tobacco cultivation may fall, and possibly in a fewer years. If these provisions, which the WHO wants to introduce, and the regulations that it wants to introduce in Brussels, come in, they will put us on our shoulders in a literal year, possibly 2 – Leszek Kwiatkowski estimates.
“The decisions of the WHO and the European Commission, if they are kept in this form as proposed, mean the elimination of the tobacco manufacture in Poland and the European Union, i.e., clearly and clearly, the tragedies, the mass bankruptcy of tobacco farms,” warns Bartłomiej Larwa. – Our expectations towards the authorities are a strong position towards the WHO and the European Commission, a decisive “no” for these plans, making it clear that the Polish planter is an crucial part of the Polish economy, the Polish agricultural sector and that Poland simply does not agree to the introduction of all these directives and recommendations.
