Lobbying for Smoking

The struggle in Germany to agree on a smoking ban continues this week when government ministers convene in Hanover on Friday to discuss the issue of protection for non-smokers before a state premiers' debate on March 22.

The meeting, to be chaired by Federal Minister for Health, Ulla Schmidt and Consumer Affairs Minister, Horst Seehofer will be used to further discuss whether smoking in schools, public buildings and most restaurants should be banned by Germany's 16 federal states.

The decision to hand the responsibility for approving the ban to the individual states came after Germany's ruling coalition rescinded the original ban proposal on constitutional grounds in December last year. The government said an outright federal ban could infringe on individual states' rights, many of which cannot be overridden by Berlin.

It is the 16 states, not the federal government, which have power over local government facilities such as schools and hospitals, as well as places such as bars and restaurants -- those places where the smoking ban was proposed.

Pro-smoking lobbyists pulling the strings?

The decision was also seen as another example of the German government's unwillingness to confront the country's powerful pro-smoking lobby which opposition politicians and anti-smoking campaigners believe holds too much influence over the ruling coalition of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Social Democrats (SPD).

Germany has been slow to follow the lead of those EU states which have already agreed and have implemented their own smoking bans. France, Italy and England have already passed laws that ban smoking in bars and restaurants, as well as public buildings, putting Germany out of step with many of its European counterparts. Pressure from the anti-smoking lobby is suspected as being the reason why Germany continues to lag behind.

But does the pro- lobby really have that amount of power, that the German government would defy European Union directives to satisfy its wishes?

"The pro-smoker lobby is stronger in Germany than in any other European country," Siggi Ermer, the chairman of Pro Rauchfrei, the German lobby for non-smokers said. "Even the tobacco companies are proud of that fact. Its influence is so strong that Pro Rauchfrei talks about a tobacco dictatorship in a democratic state. (The pro- lobby) has affected the legislation for decades and crucially has steered the politicians.

"It is so powerful that in the current discussions, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group brought in a regulation paper from the German Tobacco Industry Association (VdC) and presented it word for word as their own proposal for the negotiations."

The German Tobacco Industry Association (VdC) was unavailable for comment on its involvement in any parliamentary decisions or the extent of its influence over the government.

Wolfgang Hainer, head of the powerful Vdc, who represents the interests of Philip Morris, British American Tobacco, Reemtsma and four other tobacco companies in Germany recently told German weekly Die Zeit, "we collect information, channel the opinions of our members and then present the facts to the politicians."

The Vdc is also said to organize regular parties at its headquarters in Berlin which usually pulls in younger employees from the German ministries and the offices of parliamentarians.

No such thing as a free lunch in lobbyists' eyes

Germany is an important battleground for the pro-smoking lobby. It is Europe's biggest tobacco market with about 22 million smokers, which is 27 percent of the population, according to the federal statistics office.

And with more and more EU countries cracking down on smokers, the hearts, minds and lungs of German smokers have become more valuable to the tobacco companies. For the pro-smoking lobby to retain its advantage, alliances have to be formed with those in power.

"In Germany, the tobacco lobby has a strong influence on the politicians," Pro Rauchfrei's Ermer says. "That begins with regular gifts directly to the desks of the delegates, and goes as far as direct payments for local government events and party meetings."

"Beyond that the delegates are invited regularly to meetings of the tobacco industry, the agendas of which are disguised by social topics. Until 2006, the total of direct payments paid to the Federal Government by the tobacco industry amounts to 11.2 million euros."

Inaction and stalling cannot stop ban

Ermer states that there is a network of pro-smoking sympathizers within the political arena in Germany and that smokers within the government have an obvious agenda.

"Whole parliamentary committees, such as the tourism committee, have been infiltrated by the tobacco lobby," he added "In addition, the health minister Ulla Schmidt avoids making clear decisions. Unlike in other European countries, the German health minister doesn’t take the leadership in the ban discussion and leaves the demagogues to take the lead."

Despite the power wielded by the pro-lobby, Ermer believes that the move towards a smoke-free Europe is an irreversible one.

"While the influence in Germany is large, the German pro-smoker lobby has only a small influence on Europe," Ermer concludes. "On a European scale, Germany is isolated, as the judgment of the European Court of Justice pointed out with the tobacco advertising ban in 2005. Only Germany complained and lost," he said.

"The European way into a smokeless future cannot be stopped, it can only be slowed down by Germany."