Pile of vegetables left outside ruling Socialist party’s headquarters in Paris before parliamentary debate on plans to introduce plain packaging

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Angry French tobacconists have dumped four tonnes of carrots outside the ruling Socialist party’s headquarters in Paris in protest at plans to force the introduction of plain cigarette packets.

Thousands of protesters lay siege to the Sénat – the upper house of parliament – on Wednesday afternoon as it debated the proposed legislation.

The Confédération des Buralistes – the tobacconists’ union – chose the carrot because it resembles the sign outside French shops selling cigarettes.

After dumping the vegetables against the gates of the party headquarters at Rue de Solférino at 6.30am, the tobacconists marched to the health ministry en route to the Sénat to demand that senators throw out the law, which the government intends to introduce next year..

On Wednesday afternoon, French senators took out the clause requiring plain cigarette and tobacco packets.Instead, passed an amendment requiring health warnings to be made larger, in keeping with a European Union directive.

The move by the Senat, dominated by the opposition right, was welcomed by the confederation spokesperson Pascal Montredon. “We wanted the European directive applied, but nothing more,” Montredon told AFP.



The socialist government is expected to reintroduce the plain packet clause when the bill returns to the Assemblée Nationale in September. The lower house has already passed the clause in April.

Similar legislation has already been adopted in Australia, in 2012, and in Ireland and the British government is planning to make plain packets obligatory next year.



The French health minister, Marisol Touraine, is determined to reduce the number of French smokers, particularly among the young. In a report published last September, the national institute for prevention and education estimated that 33% of 17-year-old boys and 30% of girls the same age smoked every day.



Touraine has said smoking-related diseases will claim 78,000 lives prematurely in France every year from now until 2030 if no action is taken. The law, if approved, will take effect from May 2016.



While the tobacconists have preferred direct action, tobacco manufacturers are taking the legal route, reporting the legislation to the European court of justice.



Tax on cigarette and tobacco sales brings in €14bn (£9.8bn) a year in taxes for the French government, but officials argue this is outweighed by the cost of healthcare for smokers. The French Drug and Addiction Observatory estimated that smoking cost the country €47.7bn in 2006.



In other parts of the country, furious tobacconists put plastic bags over traffic cameras with the slogan: “Getting rid of tobacconists will not reduce smoking. No to plain packets, no to €10 packets.”



Successive French governments have increased the taxes on tobacco to persuade smokers to give up.



The confederation claims there are nearly 27,000 tobacconists in France, more than half of them operating as bars, employing a total of 100,000 people. It claimed 1,000 had been forced to close in the last year as a result of anti-tobacco policies.



On Monday, Touraine presided over a meeting of health officials from 10 countries, including Britain, in favour of plain-packet legislation.

