Lobbying on the EU Tobacco Products Directive Revision

Leaked internal PMI documents reveal that Ms Mevlig lobbied Danish Members of European Parliament (MEPs) to take a pro-tobacco position whilst the 2001 EU Tobacco Products Directive Revision (TPD) was being revised.²
A detailed account of a meeting with MEPs outlines that Ms Melvig (whose name is abbreviated as ‘AKM’ in the documents) directly lobbied MEPs Jens Rohde and Morten Messerschmidt (see Picture 1).³

Revolving Door

From November 2002 to August 2005, Ms Mevlig was the political assistant to Jens Rohde MEP (at that time member of Danish Parliament).¹
Mr Rohde is one of the MEPs that PMI had an ongoing contact with,³ and who tabled several pro-tobacco amendments to the TPD proposal in May 2013.⁴
To read more about PMI’s campaign to derail the TPD revision, including its strategy to “activate MEPs”, click here

TobaccoTactics Resources

• EU Tobacco Products Directive Revision
• PMI’s Lobbying Campaign to Undermine the TPD
• Third Party Techniques
• TPD: Revolving Door Cases

TCRG Research

• The revision of the 2014 European tobacco products directive: an analysis of the tobacco industry’s attempts to ‘break the health silo’, S. Peeters, H. Costa, D. Stuckler, M. McKee, A.B. Gilmore, 2016, Tobacco Control; 25:108-117
• Quantifying the influence of tobacco industry on EU governance: automated content analysis of the EU Tobacco Products Directive, H. Costa, A.B. Gilmore, S. Peeters, M. McKee, D. Stuckler, 2014, Tobacco Control; 23:473-478

For a comprehensive list of all TCRG publications, including TCRG research that evaluates the impact of public health policy, go to the Bath TCRG’s list of publications.

References

The post Anne Katrine Mevlig appeared first on TobaccoTactics.

Lobbying on the Tobacco Products Directive

Riis-Jørgensen lobbied the European Commission on the EU Tobacco Products Directive Revision (TPD). On 16 March 2011 and 6 March 2012, Riis-Jørgensen and Swedish Match Public Affairs Director Cecilia Kindstrand-Isaksson met representatives of the European Commission’s Secretariat General to discuss the TPD review.⁷

Revolving Door

Prior to her career as a lobbyist, Riis-Jørgensen was a Danish politician who served as a Member of European Parliament from 1994 to 2009. She was twice re-elected in 1999 and in 2004.⁸ From 1987 to 1989 she worked for the European Commission’s task force for small and medium-sized enterprises. ⁹

TobaccoTactics Resources

• EU Tobacco Products Directive Revision
• TPD: Revolving Door Cases

TCRG Research

• The revision of the 2014 European tobacco products directive: an analysis of the tobacco industry’s attempts to ‘break the health silo’, S. Peeters, H. Costa, D. Stuckler, M. McKee, A.B. Gilmore, 2016, Tobacco Control; 25:108-117
• Quantifying the influence of tobacco industry on EU governance: automated content analysis of the EU Tobacco Products Directive, H. Costa, A.B. Gilmore, S. Peeters, M. McKee, D. Stuckler, 2014, Tobacco Control; 23:473-478

References

The post Karin Riis-Jørgensen appeared first on TobaccoTactics.

Background

Rohde is a member of the Alliance of the Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).
During the revision of the EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), Rohde was a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), one of five key committees tasked to provide a formal opinion on the revised TPD proposal.

Relationship with the Tobacco Industry

Regular Meetings with Philip Morris

Leaked internal Philip Morris International (PMI) documents have revealed that the tobacco company had regular contact with Rohde during the TPD revision (see Picture 1), and that the MEP facilitated access between PMI and Danish MEPs Anne Jensen and Morten Lokkegaard (although the extent of their contact with PMI is unknown).¹⁰¹¹

Former Member of Staff Working for Philip Morris

PMI’s regular contact with Rohde was facilitated by his former political assistant (2002-2005) Anne Katrine Mevlig (see Picture 2), who had joined PMI Denmark in 2011 as Corporate Affairs Manager.¹² Mevlig was one of 161 PMI staff/consultants working on weakening the provisions in the revised TPD proposal.¹³¹⁴

Opposed Tobacco Control Measures in EU

Tabled Amendments To Weaken TPD

Rohde tried to push several amendments in Parliament’s ITRE Committee to dilute the revised TPD proposal, including removing the prohibition of menthol as a cigarette ingredient and the requirement for 75% health warnings. Rohde proposed that:¹⁵

* menthol be excluded from being a ‘characterising flavour’ (adopted by ITRE)

* ‘characterising flavours’ should only be banned when it can be measured to increase the toxicity and addictiveness at stage of consumption (partly adopted by ITRE)

* health warnings should cover only 40% of the pack and be placed at the bottom of the pack (ITRE proposed 50%).

TobaccoTactics Resources

• EU Tobacco Products Directive Revision
• TPD: Tobacco Control Measures
• PMI’s Lobbying Campaign to Undermine the TPD
• TPD: Revolving Door Cases

Relevant Link

Rohde’s European Parliament Biography (all EU languagues)

TCRG Research

• The revision of the 2014 European tobacco products directive: an analysis of the tobacco industry’s attempts to ‘break the health silo’, S. Peeters, H. Costa, D. Stuckler, M. McKee, A.B. Gilmore, 2016, Tobacco Control; 25:108-117
• Quantifying the influence of tobacco industry on EU governance: automated content analysis of the EU Tobacco Products Directive, H. Costa, A.B. Gilmore, S. Peeters, M. McKee, D. Stuckler, 2014, Tobacco Control; 23:473-478

References

The post Jens Rohde appeared first on TobaccoTactics.