Romania follows Poland against EU call on menthol and slim cigarette ban, says only EU-wide decision can cut smoking

Romania decided not to follow the EU directive which bans menthol and slim cigarettes, being one of the five countries which stood against this proposed measure. Romania's reasoning is based on the loss of revenues to the state budget on the one hand, and the expected increase in the cigarette black market on the other. The country did not expect the measure to have discouraged smoking all together, but rather to fuel an increase in the black market, the Prime Minister Victor Ponta explained.The country decided to alter the attractive packaging of such cigarettes instead. “If it was only about losing budget revenues, I would have been in favor of a tough legislation. The problem is that we lose money to the state budget – which is ok – and there is no improvement in fighting smoking, as long as the neighboring countries can still produce these cigarettes,” said the PM. He added that the measure should have been taken and accepted across the entire EU to be effective. As long as Poland produces these types of cigarettes, Romania will import them from Poland, lose money to the state budget and fuel the Polish economy instead, the PM went on. Romania decided to add messages and pictures aimed at discouraging smoking on the cigarette packages instead. The European Parliament recently approved a ban on menthol and other flavored cigarettes as part of broad legislation that will restrict how tobacco products can be sold across the EU. The recent vote means the ban on flavored cigarettes is likely to become law, as EU national governments also banned menthol cigarettes as part of their version of the legislation, but the Parliament should now vote on the law, according to the Wall Street Journal. Some national Governments however decided not to ban slim cigarettes, but rather their attractive packaging, designed to look like lipstick or perfume, thus attracting younger women. Poland is one of the countries which opposed the ban on menthol and slim cigarettes, as menthol cigarettes make up 18 percent of cigarette consumption in the country, and slim cigarettes add an additional 14 percent. Poland is also one of Europe's largest tobacco producers. The amount of smuggled cigarettes fell to 12.6 percent of the total sold in Romania, in May this year. The percentage was down from 13.1 percent of the total in March, 2013, and the figure has hovered around the 13 percent mark for the last year and a half, according to research company Novel. Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova remain two of the main sources of smuggled tobacco, accounting for 26.6 percent and 24.9 percent of the total respectively. The amount of cigarettes on the black market from Serbia, however, has diminished significantly; from as high as 23 percent of the total smuggled cigarettes in 2012 to just 10.7 percent in May this year. editor@romania-insider.com