European Commission President Manuel Barroso has denied claims made by former EU commissioner John Dalli that he had suggested dropping the Tobacco Products Directive.
In a curt statement to The Sunday Times of Malta, a spokeswoman for Mr Barroso said “it was not the case” that the Commission president had moved to have the controversial directive review ditched.
“It was in the Commission’s work programme for 2012 and the Commission delivered as planned,” the spokeswoman said.
Mr Barroso was asked for a reaction to the claims made by Mr Dalli last Thursday when he took the witness stand in the case of his former canvasser Silvio Zammit, who is the only person facing charges over the scandal that led to the former commissioner’s resignation in October 2012.
In a counter reaction to Mr Barrosso’s denial, Mr Dalli said yesterday he would stick by what he said in court.
“The spokeswoman is beating about the bush. I am talking about a meeting with Barroso in November 2011. Many issues are in the work programme and not delivered.”
Mr Zammit is pleading not guilty to charges of trading in influence when he allegedly asked tobacco producer Swedish Match for €60 million in return for the lifting of a ban on snus – an orally consumed form of tobacco that can only be sold in Sweden under EU rules.
Mr Dalli was forced to resign by Mr Barroso after an investigation by the EU Anti-Fraud Agency (OLAF) controversially argued there was “unambiguous circumstantial evidence” showing Mr Dalli knew about the request and did nothing about it, even though he may not have participated in the attempt to elicit a bribe itself. The investigation was later criticised for being weak and prejudged.
It was in the Commission’s work programme for 2012 and the Commission delivered as planned
When giving evidence, Mr Dalli insisted he never discussed changing the directive with Mr Zammit, nor had he talked about money in any context.
However, he used the meeting he had with Mr Barroso to argue that he was forced out of his Brussels post because of the work he was doing to introduce tighter controls on the tobacco industry, and described the whole affair as a set-up.
The directive was up for a review after the landmark legislation was first adopted in 2001.
Mr Dalli said that in his conversation with Mr Barroso he insisted on ploughing through with the legislation but also that his own staff had complained that since Michel Petite – a former director general of the EU Commission’s legal services who turned into a tobacco lobbyist – came to the scene, “the legal services had started changing the opinions”. Mr Petite then entered the picture again in March 2013, when he was approached by Swedish Match with allegations that a representative of theirs had been asked for a bribe.
It was Mr Petite who first relayed the allegations to the Commission some time before the snus manufacturer made its official complaint.
Swedish Match had explained that it had approached Mr Petite because it was unsure how to proceed with the case and felt that he could be of help given his experience with the European Commission.
At first the officials of the company did not plan to file a complaint. However, they claimed that the Sliema restaurateur eventually made a second request for money in return for the lifting of the ban, this time through the European Smokeless Tobacco Lobby.