Yesmoke’s "Lobby"

Yesmoke, the Piemonte Company that would like to compete with Philip Morris ,according to Italy’s daily newspaper “Libero”, has a lobby. The article, dated October 28th, is by the newspaper’s assistant editor, Franco Bechis, the title: «Barbato, il Dipietrista* che alla Camera fa il lobbista del tabacco» (Barbato, Di Pietro’s man, who in the Chamber is the lobbyist of tobacco).

As if it were the battle of his lifetime - writes Bechis – Barbato has asked the government to eliminate the regulatory barriers that prevent Yesmoke from extending its presence in Italy and that oblige the company to sell its production almost entirely abroad“.

The Honourable Francesco Barbato was not asking for favors for Yesmoke, which has no lobbyists on its payroll; he was just trying to remind the Chamber of Deputies that a sentence exists of the European Court of Justice, dated 24 June 2010 (Sentence – Italy, June 24, 2010), that has been circumvented by Italy with the “minimum tax”. This tax, created by Gianfranco Fini’s** Alberto Giorgetti (DL 94, 23 June 2010) benefits a cartel of foreign cigarette producers to the detriment of Italy’s tax revenues. More than a lobbyist, Barbato is a perfect …”Dipietrista”!

Asking the government to eliminate the barriers of a regulatory nature, Barbato is asking for nothing more than respect for European Court rulings. And Bechis cannot reply simply with sentences like: «He has already raised the issue three time… it is rare to see a member of Parliament so blatantly in the field…it is really an issue for a super policeman like Di Pietro”.

Bechis has been the editor of some of the Italy’s major newspapers, like Il Tempo, Italia Oggi and Milano Finanza, but his statements in this case are completely groundless; he is clumsily trying to pass off as a lobbyist someone who is opposing a situation that is clearly illegal.

It seems like the newspaper Libero and its political backers couldn’t care less about the three foreign companies that manufacture all their cigarettes abroad and take home, completely tax-free, and in the absolute silence of the media, 2 billion 800 million euro every year, companies that receive as a reward aid as if they were Fiat.

* The "Dipietristi, are members of the IDV (Italia dei Valori) political party founded by the ex-magistrate Antonio Di Pietro. Di Pietro’s anti-corruption investigations, in the early 1990s, brought down the Italian political structure.

** The "Finiani" are members of a ”post fascist” right wing political current. Their leader is Gianfranco Fini, current president of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament.

Learn More

Leave a Comment

«

»