Martin Schulz rules out split voting on the TPD

[steffijade]

The trouble is that whatever political persuasion of the MEP, none of them really wants to be seen as one of those that voted against the TPD because of the restrictions on tobacco smoking it contains. That would leave them open to accusations of being big tobacco shills and the potential negative spin associated with that.

That's why Mr Schulz and co don't want to spilt the vote.. they know that most MEPs don't want to have those negative associations and thus can be blackmailed into passing the TPD. Cynicism and total disregard for the true democratic process, but the antis won't let 'minor' points like that stand in the way of their 'quit or die' crusade.

 

[Chegs]

Fubar1977 I'm glad you mentioned you'd received that in the last 2 hours,that made me recheck my inbox & I find I too received a similar response.That means that from the 20+ emails I've sent out to various political bodies,I have received 2 email replies & 1 letter.Good job I'm not easily dissuaded by being ignored.I will usually forget about all the ignoring of my communications and repeat sending to all.The letter I received was simply to inform me my "MP is very busy,but has forwarded your email to..."which didn't unduly bother me until later that evening I saw him tweeting childish abuse to a Lord somebody or other.That made me angry so I've been firing off emails to the local paper about him,as this seems to gain his attention whenever anyone dares question his attitudes & the paper prints them.Unfortunately,the paper hasn't printed any of my emailed letters (yet) but I'll continue sending them UNTIL he see's it and I get the requested appointment.

 

[Fubar1977]

@Fubar1977 I'm glad you mentioned you'd received that in the last 2 hours,that made me recheck my inbox & I find I too received a similar response.That means that from the 20+ emails I've sent out to various political bodies,I have received 2 email replies & 1 letter.Good job I'm not easily dissuaded by being ignored.I will usually forget about all the ignoring of my communications and repeat sending to all.The letter I received was simply to inform me my "MP is very busy,but has forwarded your email to..."which didn't unduly bother me until later that evening I saw him tweeting childish abuse to a Lord somebody or other.That made me angry so I've been firing off emails to the local paper about him,as this seems to gain his attention whenever anyone dares question his attitudes & the paper prints them.Unfortunately,the paper hasn't printed any of my emailed letters (yet) but I'll continue sending them UNTIL he see's it and I get the requested appointment.

The only 2 who have actually responded to me at all are Martin Callanan and Timothy Kirkhope, also a Conservate MEP (For Yorkshire and the Humber).

His response to me:

From: KIRKHOPE Timothy <[email protected]>

Subject: RE: Article 18 Tobacco Products Directive

Date: 12 February 2014 1016 GMT

To: 'R***** **********' <***@**************>


Dear Mr F********,

Thank you for your e-mail regarding e-cigarettes in which you expressed your concern of how regulation may hamper the positive impact they can have.

I have followed the Tobacco Products Directive (the file under which e-cigarettes may be regulated) since the beginning and am utterly convinced of the benefits that e-cigarettes offer to public health. With this in mind, I was delighted when the majority of the European Parliament joined my Conservative colleagues in voting to reject the proposed Medicinal route, and instead opted to keep e-cigarettes accessible to the public.

I have spoken to my colleague Martin Callanan MEP who has been leading on this file representing the position of our political group, and he has made the following statement:

E-cigarettes are a matter on which I am not willing to compromise the basic principles. I spent a lot of time working on this file, as did many others, and so when the Parliament voted to keep e-cigarettes as available as possible for users, we did so for a reason. I am happy to compromise on other areas of the TPD package, but attempts to change the position on e-cigarettes and their availability is a non-starter.

I have made my position clear to the Lithuanian Presidency team who lead the Council negotiations, as well as to the British Government. Throughout Trilogue meetings I have defended e-cigarettes and refused to allow their availability to be limited.

As you may well have heard, an agreement has now been reached between the Council and the majority of Parliamentary Groups regarding e-cigarettes. Personally I feel that far too much of it comes from the Commission proposal, and it places too many limitations on e-cigarettes. With this in mind, I am now considering what actions I can take in Plenary to allow the issues with the e-cigarette text to be raised and, hopefully changed, as I believe that such a rushed, poorly thought out and patchy proposal is no way to regulate a product with such potential. The poor quality of this legislation has been further illustrated by the recent evidence that e-cigarette research has been misunderstood by the Commission, thus producing a faulty foundation for their approach.

I continue to work with my colleagues to make sure we get the best possible outcome on this. If you have any further issues you would like to raise, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Yours Sincerely,

Timothy Kirkhope MEP

​

 

[Fleabag]

The trouble is that whatever political persuasion of the MEP, none of them really wants to be seen as one of those that voted against the TPD because of the restrictions on tobacco smoking it contains. That would leave them open to accusations of being big tobacco shills and the potential negative spin associated with that.

That's why Mr Schulz and co don't want to spilt the vote.. they know that most MEPs don't want to have those negative associations and thus can be blackmailed into passing the TPD. Cynicism and total disregard for the true democratic process, but the antis won't let 'minor' points like that stand in the way of their 'quit or die' crusade.

The thing is though - the TPD contains very little in terms of tobacco restrictions and virtually nothing to deter children from smoking, whereas it's awash with over-regulation of e-cigs - clearly ignoring the harm reducing potential for current or potential smokers under 18 and not giving a flying f**k for the adult current and potential vapers

Politicians are far too influenced by the WHO and other bodies that, on the surface, appear to be working for the public good. The WHO is solely concerned with "renormalisation", and Big Pharma, which the world niavely considers to be a benign and altruistic group of organisations, that needs to protect smoking (and their ready supply of people with smoking related diseases) and the ineffective NRTs.

 

[Ninjaassasin1983]

The trouble is that whatever political persuasion of the MEP, none of them really wants to be seen as one of those that voted against the TPD because of the restrictions on tobacco smoking it contains. That would leave them open to accusations of being big tobacco shills and the potential negative spin associated with that.

That's why Mr Schulz and co don't want to spilt the vote.. they know that most MEPs don't want to have those negative associations and thus can be blackmailed into passing the TPD. Cynicism and total disregard for the true democratic process, but the antis won't let 'minor' points like that stand in the way of their 'quit or die' crusade.

So in layman's terms Martin Schulz is a devious cunt - sorry for the language but someone had to say it - whatever happens and I haven't given up the fight we know we'll take them in court if needs be folks.

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