International

European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly today published her recommendations regarding the European Commission’s contacts with the tobacco lobby, calling for a proactive policy under which all meetings and reports on such meetings would be placed on the Commission’s website. Commenting on the recommendations, SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong said: 'Dutch Commissioner Frans Timmermans promised us that he would quickly make the Commission more transparent, but he has also refused up to now to make public all data regarding meetings with the tobacco industry. The Ombudsman has made mincemeat of this position, which she argues is in conflict with the rules established by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The Commission, moreover, should know better. Recently Maltese Commissioner John Dalli had to step down on suspicion of corruption related to the tobacco industry. Furthermore, the Commission works closely with the tobacco industry to combat cigarette smuggling. So there’s every reason to publish all such contacts on the Commission’s website, as the Ombudsman asks them to do.’

There is no doubt that growth can go hand in hand with a reduction in income differentials and the greening of the economy, a point on which SP Senator Tuur Elzinga, rapporteur for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and Angel Gurria, Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) are of one and the same mind. Senator Elzinga’s almost unanimously supported resolution called on the OECD countries to strive for inclusive growth with a fairer division of income and wealth.