The revenge of Big Tobacco – POLITICO

Welcome to Declassified, a weekly humor column.

In the media (which include right here at POLITICO Towers), we appreciate to use the word “Big” to describe a key marketplace — Big Tech, Massive Pharma (or, even more terrifying, Large Farmer) and, of course, Major Tobacco.

It just cannot be easy for Huge Tobacco these times (to lessen the fatal impact of tobacco, just photo a sad executive forced to wear a large cigarette costume, wandering around a browsing shopping mall attempting to sell his wares and becoming kicked by teenagers). In any case, as you are going to have study in Brussels Playbook, the Swedish daily Aftonbladet wrote about a leaked European Commission document that proposed those meddling Brussels Eurocrats planned to double taxes on snus, the well known-in-Scandinavia tobacco products. For these unfamiliar with snus, consider having some of the “juice” that has gathered at the bottom of your kitchen area bin and smearing it on your gums and teeth.

Many Swedes and other individuals have been furious at this prospective infringement on their common way of daily life, till the Commission created crystal clear that it had no intention of generating these a move.

You cannot point out snus and the EU without having reference to John Dalli, the previous Maltese member of the Commission who was obliged to resign from his position overseeing wellness and customer coverage in the second Fee led by José Manuel Barroso (previous-timers may perhaps remember Barroso II for these luminaries as charisma-vacuum Catherine Ashton, lobbying enthusiast Neelie Kroes, and Berlusconi’s bag-provider Antonio Tajani).

Whole disclosure: This publication’s predecessor released a journal previewing Barroso II in which this creator wrote that Dalli would be unlikely to “rock the boat.” He didn’t rock the boat, of study course, but rather attempted to set it on fireplace.

Dalli did so substantially harm that he obtained the media to come up with a -gate suffix for him (Dalligate), which is no signify feat, right after just one of his aides allegedly tried out to receive a €60 million bribe from a Swedish tobacco company to reverse an EU ban on snus.

Dalli quit his EU submit in October 2012, and claimed that Barroso forced him out after presenting him with a report from OLAF, the bloc’s anti-fraud office (and also the snowman in the movie “Frozen”). Dalli also claimed bribery prices leveled towards him have been component of a “campaign” to smear him. “This is one more fraud,” he told the Occasions of Malta previous year.

Why Big Snus has not snapped up Dalli for a senior lobbying place stays a secret.

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Paul Dallison is POLITICO‘s slot news editor.