The EU Commission has been asked whether it has any recommendations on how to reduce smoking in France where, apparently, despite strict anti-tobacco policies, smoking rates are high.
The French MEP Mireille D’Ornano said in a preamble to two questions that the Commission is due to answer in writing that, according to a study conducted by the French National Public Health Agency, cigarette consumption was still particularly high in France.
‘In 2016, 34.5 percent of the population in the 15-75 age bracket smoked tobacco, 83 percent of whom did so daily, which is a much higher proportion than in neighbouring countries,’ she said. ‘In France, smoking is the direct cause of 73,000 deaths each year.
‘Yet, according to the British think-tank, the Institute of Economic Affairs, France has the third strictest anti-smoking policy in the EU. It appears that France has already implemented the recommendations made by the World Health Organization for the World No Tobacco Day on 31 May, particularly with regard to the pricing and taxation of tobacco products.’
D’Ornano asked:
- ‘Does the Commission have any recommendations on how French anti-smoking policy can be made more effective?’ and
- ‘Does the Commission intend to take ambitious measures against cross-border tobacco tourism and the sale of smuggled cigarettes?’