Maltese MEPs say: 'It wasn't me'

Maltese MEPs have categorically denied that they contributed to a U-turn on a smoking ban in the European Parliament, which has drawn accusations of hypocrisy.

The European Parliament's new leadership has dropped a complete ban on smoking in the House and decided to re-introduce smoking areas, with critics saying the move sends a negative message just as the EU is boosting an anti-smoking drive.

A 12-member committee of MEPs, which included some smokers, decided that the ban, which had been in place at the Parliament's premises in Brussels and Strasbourg since January 1, was "unenforceable".

According to several international media reports, the prime lobbyists for the reversal of the regulation were politicians and bureaucrats from Poland, Greece and Malta.

Malta was one of the first EU states to adopt a smoking ban in restaurants and public places in April 2004, followed by countries like Sweden, Italy and Ireland.

David Casa, the only Maltese MEP who puffs away, insisted he was not among the MEPs who exerted pressure to have the smoking ban reversed.

He did not even join other MEPs who as a sign of protest decided to ignore the ban and smoke anywhere within the Parliament building. "I agree with the ban, but I also agree with designated areas for smoking. The Parliament is a huge building and you cannot go 13 stories down and into the street every time you want to smoke," he said.

Mr Casa, who smokes around 15 cigarettes a day, said it was important to strike a balance and reach a compromise with smokers.

He expressed surprise that smokers were not even being allowed to use two rooms originally earmarked for smoking.

Asked whether he believed the Maltese MEPs' assistants could have exerted pressure themselves, Mr Casa said they did not wield enough power to change such a regulation.

His counterpart in the European People's Party, Simon Busuttil, said he agreed that the entire building should be smoke-free.

But he disagreed with claims that parliamentarians were hypocritical by not enforcing a law which they were lobbying to introduce in the rest of the EU.

"You're looking at a parliament of over 780 members, which is just a reflection of society. A few members would have opposed this new law, the way certain lobbies opposed the smoking ban at home," Dr Busuttil said.

Socialist MEP Joseph Muscat also agrees with the smoking ban.

"I saw some correspondence of some people trying to lift the ban in parts of the Parliament but I believe we simply can't be above the law," Mr Muscat told The Times.

The Labour head of delegation Louis Grech, also a non-smoker, said he favours a smoking ban within the European Parliament, claiming also that the public places should be smoke free.

"I believe the majority of parliamentarians favour the ban... and more importantly if we are promoting something, then we have to lead by example. This incident doesn't help our image, for sure," he said.

MEP John Attard Montalto, another non-smoker, could not be contacted for comment.

Quoted in The Times of London, Deborah Arnott, director of the anti-smoking charity Ash said: "There can be no justification for politicians to place themselves above the law and it makes a mockery of the Commission's proposals for an EU-wide smoking ban."

The six week-long Parliament smoking ban was widely flouted in any case, with MEPs lighting up in their private offices and in the corridors.

The outspoken MEP Nigel Farage, the UK Independence Party leader, was among those who admitted flouting the ban.

"I don't want to be told by parliamentary committee people what I can and cannot do," he said.