Producers of oriental tobacco consider a strategy for protecting the sector

Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naydenov will hold on Monday a meeting with MEPs and producers of oriental tobacco in order to prepare a common position for protecting the sector. “We will firmly back the interests of oriental tobacco producers,” he said in an interview for Focus agency. The reason for these consultations is that at the end of 2012, the Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection (DG SANCO) of the European Commission plans to amend the Tobacco Products Directive, prohibiting the production of this variety in the European Union.

“When proposing measures for banning the production of oriental tobacco in the European Union, these should be accompanied by alternative employment,” commented Naydenov. After the meeting with MEPs, a session of the Tobacco Advisory Council will be held on Tuesday in the town of Gotse Delchev. The aim is to unite all associations of tobacco growers around a common position.

Naydenov pointed out that for years there have been attempts by the World Health Organisation to limit some of the ingredients of cigarettes, including oriental tobacco. “DG SANCO of the European Commission is also trying to change the EU regulation in order to limit the production of oriental tobacco. This will affect mostly the sectors in Bulgaria, Greece and Italy. You know that we are currently supporting this sector with national subsidies, while other EU countries - Greece and Italy, for instance - succeeded to obtain significant compensations. This time, we will not allow this to happen without offering an alternative to these people,” he commented.

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