Anti-Tobacco Battle Pits Corporations Against Public Health

....Tobacco corporations threaten public health with lawsuits against anti-tobacco legislation. 

Lawsuits from major tobacco corporations challenging anti-tobacco policies all over the world underscore the ever greater need for a global crackdown on tobacco use, for the sake of both public health and global development goals.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) highlighted this situation when it chose "industry interference" as the centrepiece of its anti-tobacco campaign this year for World No Tobacco Day, observed annually on May 31. 

The WHO has taken a "bold stance" in a bid to stop the tobacco industry's attempts to undercut steps to improve public health, John Stewart, senior international organiser of Corporate Accountability International (CAI), told IPS. 

"Tobacco and poverty create a vicious circle, since it is the poor who smoke most and bear the brunt of the economic and disease burden of tobacco use," said United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon in his address on World Tobacco Day. 

Tobacco kills nearly 6 million people each year. It will kill up to 8 million people per year by 2030, of which more than 80 percent will live in low- and middle-income countries, according to the WHO. 

Many countries have taken steps towards kicking a lethal global habit, and the Global Tobacco Treaty (formally known as the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, or FCTC) is a crucial tool in the struggle. If fully implemented, it could save more than 200 million lives, Stewart told IPS. 

Ahead of global tobacco treaty meetings to be held in Seoul in November, groundbreaking policies in Australia and Uruguay have been lauded as positive steps towards reducing tobacco consumption. 

Health warnings must now cover 80 percent of cigarette packages in Uruguay and each brand is permitted only one design per package. Australia has gone further still, implementing a policy of plain packaging in an attempt to de-glamorise the appeal of smoking. 

In response, the tobacco firm Philip Morris International has declared the policies "excessive" and filed a lawsuit at a World Bank affiliate, seeking unspecified damages for lost profits. 

"While governments and the international health community try to implement effective measures to contain tobacco use and protect the health of people, their efforts are being aggressively opposed by an industry whose products kill people," said Ban, noting big tobacco's aggressive attempts to derail public health initiatives. 

The prospect of lengthy and expensive lawsuits threatens to become an effective deterrent to anti- tobacco policies of the type pioneered by Australia and Uruguay. 

"Big Tobacco's bullying is the single greatest threat to implementation of the Global Trade Treaty," Stewart said. 

"Marlboro Man" Awards 

The Marlboro Man awards, part of CAI's Challenging Big Tobacco campaign, are a mock celebration of governments' failures to stand up to the tobacco industry 

By buoying big tobacco's litigation campaign, some countries, including the Netherlands, Indonesia, Honduras and Ukraine, qualify for nomination in this year's awards. 

Ukraine complained at the World Trade Organisation about Australia's ban on branding cigarette packets, saying it violated international intellectual property laws. 

Yet Ukraine doesn't have any trade with Australia, Stewart pointed out. "It seems a pretty obvious case of the industry somehow influencing the government of the Ukraine to do their dirty work for them." 

Given the increasingly aggressive and manipulative tactics taken by big tobacco, public health policymakers and anti-tobacco campaigners have little trust in the industry. 

"Public health initiatives should be focused on challenging this deadly industry," Stewart told IPS. 

"The tobacco industry presents itself as a stakeholder in public health policy. We are calling on governments to keep big tobacco out of the room when public health policy decisions are being made" he said. 

But others believe in the possibilities of reining in corporate giants and challenging them face to face. 

"The industry can't be painted with one brush stroke," said Scott Ballin, a health policy consultant and former vice president for public policy and legislative counsel at the American Heart Association. 

"There is a need to think from the standpoint of what the companies could do if they wanted to - for instance, stopping the production of tobacco tainted with other products, cracking down on smuggling and raising standards," Ballin told IPS. 

From this perspective, dialogue can't be ruled out. Ballin suggested "challeng(ing) these companies and forc(ing) them to develop the products that technology says can be developed. This will move people away from cigarettes to using low-risk products," he said. 

Targeting youth 

According to CAI's 2012 report "Cutting through the Smoke", tobacco giants have and continue to operate a shamelessly exploitative marketing strategy in the developing world. 

Faced with dropping sales in the U.S., UK and European markets, big tobacco has turned to consumers in the developing world to bolster cigarette sales. 

For the past seven years British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN) has been utilising underground parties held at secret locations in Lagos to attract hip Nigerian party goers with the allure of free fun. 

At a conference organised for World No Tobacco Day, Gigi Kellett, CAI's Challenging Big Tobacco campaign director, described the scene. 

"Picture a dance floor throbbing to the beat of music, young women in sequined mini-skirts adding sparkle to the crowded throng, young men in fedoras making their way to an all-you-can-smoke-and- drink buffet, courtesy of the nation's largest tobacco corporation: British American Tobacco Nigeria," Kellett told reporters and policy makers.

Environmental Rights Action Nigeria, a Nigerian advocacy group dedicated to the defence of the human ecosystem in terms of human rights, has worked tirelessly to bring the Global Tobacco Treaty into force in Nigeria. 

But big tobacco skirts regulation with these smoking parties, promoted online or by word of mouth, Kellett added. 

These corporations' exploitation of alternative regulatory contexts in emerging countries like Nigeria worsens the already tarnished image of the industry. It exemplifies one of several points of conflict between big tobacco and the Global Tobacco Trade Treaty. 

Ballin suggested that "the best way to find a path forward is to sit down with the stakeholders". But as tobacco companies' underhanded marketing strategies transgress the boundaries of international law, anger and suspicion overtake the landscape, transforming it into a battlefield. 

By Isabelle de Grave 

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=108009 

Jonathan-NASS cold war: President to return 12 bills

• Wants to avert override by National Assembly • House leadership to consider line of action next week

The cold war between the Presidency and the National Assembly over unsigned bills has forced President Goodluck Jonathan back to the drawing board.

 He met with his key strategists at the weekend to review complaints by the Senate and the House of Representatives over   his refusal to sign 14 bills passed by them.

The review session was aimed at averting the resort to override by the legislature.

 Two of the bills may now be signed by the President, it was gathered yesterday in Abuja while the remaining 12 could be returned to the legislators for reconsideration.

A principal officer of the House said the chamber may meet soon on their next line of action on the unsigned bills.

Speaker Aminu Tambuwal of the House of Representatives and Senate  Deputy President  Ike Ekweremadu last week  joined issues with the President on bills awaiting the President’s signature.

These include: Public Procurement Amendment Bill; Legal Aid Council Bill, National Health Bill; the Bill on People with Disability; National Assembly Budget and Research Office Establishment Bill; Tobacco Bill, State of the Nation Address Bill; FCT Area Courts Bill; and National Assembly Service Commission Repeal and Re-enactment Bill.

The rest are: National Bio-Safety Management Bill; River Basin Development Authority Amendment Bill; Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency Bill; FCT Board of Internal Revenue Bill; Harmonized Retirement Age of Tertiary Institutions Workers Bill; and Police Act Amendment Bill.

The President and his strategists are believed to have discussed the constitutional status of each of the bills and resolved to act on some of them with a view to averting a confrontation with the National Assembly. 

The Senate and the House of Representatives, one source said, were spoiling for war with the executive over the unsigned bills.

 Speaker Tambuwal, at a National Symposium on the occasion of Democracy Day in Abuja last Monday accused the Executive arm of shirking its responsibility of assenting to bills passed by the legislature.

This, he said, was not in the best interest of the country and did not augur well for the relationship between the executive and legislative arms.

The  President  acknowledged ‘a major conflict’ between the two sides and explained that this was brought about by the insistence of the legislators to hijack the budget proposals submitted every year for approval.

He said the National Assembly had formed the habit of tearing and distorting such budget proposals.

“We even wanted to go to the court, so that the Supreme Court would tell us if it is the duty of the National Assembly to plan the economy,” he said, adding: “Let them do the budget, hand over to us we will implement, but if it is our duty, then they should listen to us because the executive arm of government has a ministry of planning and finance and works with the Central Bank..”

The Chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business, Albert Tsokwa (PDP, Taraba), said the National Assembly might override the bills in line with Section 58 of the 1999 Constitution.

But it was also discovered at the meeting that some of the bills have been overtaken by events.

A top presidency source said: “Contrary to insinuations, the President had, a few weeks ago, asked the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) and his aides to compile and bring outstanding bills to him.

“But a review of the bills indicated that some of them have been signed into law by the President. These are Harmonized Retirement Age of Tertiary Institutions Workers, the 2012 Appropriation Act and the Transfer of Convicted Prisoners amendment Act.

“The President does not just rush into signing any bill into law; his administration must ensure that a bill will promote development and ensure public peace and safety. It is not as if this administration is out to undermine the National Assembly.

“For instance yesterday (Friday) he met with his team on these outstanding bills and their status.”

Asked what the President would do in view of the position of the National Assembly, the source said: “He (Jonathan) will soon sign one or two of these outstanding bills into law, including the Tobacco Bill.

“The bills passed by the National Assembly so far this year may also be signed into law.

“We have however discovered that most of the bills have passed the statutory 30 days required of the President to sign them into law. Some of them were also passed by the Sixth National Assembly confirming that they have been overtaken by events.

“If you go through the rules of the National Assembly, there is no way the Seventh National Assembly would have inherited the bill liability of its predecessor because of the time factor.

“What the government will do is to resend these bills to the National Assembly for reconsideration. After the reconsideration, the President will now assent to the bills. So, hope is not lost.”

Responding to a question, the source added: “The government will not allow the situation to degenerate to the use of override by the National Assembly. Instead, the government will engage the legislature on the way out.

“I can assure you that we will not allow the use of override, we will rather lobby National Assembly members to appreciate the observations of the government on these bills.”

But a principal officer of the House of Representatives, who spoke in confidence, said: “We are in full support of what Tambuwal said because he tried to protect the integrity of the National Assembly.

“We will however meet on the issue next week to determine our next line of action.”

Section 58(4-5) of the 1999 Constitution reads: “Where a bill is presented to the President for assent, he shall within 30 days thereof signify that he assents or that he withholds assent.

“Where the President withholds his assent and the bill is again passed by each House by two-thirds majority, the bill shall become law and the assent of the President shall not be required.”

Another presidency source however added that the use of override is cumbersome and drew our correspondent’s attention to Section 59(4) of the Constitution.

The source said: “We won’t allow Executive-Legislature face-off but the truth is that the use of veto is not as easy as some are trying to claim.

“Just read Section 59(4) and you will discover that there must be a joint session of the National Assembly to pass any outstanding bill into law by the lawmakers. We won’t allow that at all.”

The section says: “Where the President, within 30 days after the presentation of the bill to him, fails to signify his assent or where he withholds assent, then the bill shall again be presented to the National Assembly sitting at a joint meeting and if passed by two-thirds majority of members of both Houses at such joint meeting, the bill shall become law and assent to the President shall not be required.”

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World unites against tobacco, US decries drug menace in Africa

COUNTRIES of the world yesterday united against tobacco and the industries, promising to save humanity from the myriad of health hazards associated with consumption of the product.

Meanwhile, worried by the scourge of drug trafficking in Nigeria and Africa, the United States (U.S.) has called for concerted efforts to eradicate it.

The U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Terrence MCCulley, gave the advice yesterday during the commissioning of one scanning machine donated to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Lagos airport.

McCulley explained that drug trafficking was a multi-billion dollar investment that destroyed lives, adding that the U.S. had watched youths induced with drug money.

“We have seen the deaths of innocent neighbours caught in the cross-fire of drug wars. We have watched our youths seduced by dealers promising escape from life’s challenges and easy money as ‘mules’ to transport their deadly poison across the world’s borders”.

At events to commemorate World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) 2012 themed “Tobacco Industry Interference”, the countries spoke with one voice against interference by international tobacco campaign (Big Tobacco) in laws controlling consumption of the product towards achieving public health that is free of tobacco-related sicknesses and deaths.

Activists in Nigeria also took turn to recount the interference of tobacco industries in Nigeria and several attempts to “derail health policy.”  They called on President Goodluck Jonathan to urgently sign the National Tobacco Control Bill (NTCB) into law.

At events in Washington and Geneva, the World Health Organisation (WHO), Corporate Accountability International (CAI) and partners across the globe launched a campaign to expose and challenge the industry’s interference in the global tobacco treaty (formally known as the WHO Frame-work Convention on Tobacco Control FCTC) and related policies.

Their findings revealed that even as tobacco’s yearly death toll soars beyond six million globally, “Big Tobacco has stepped-up its efforts to prevent proven tobacco control laws from taking effect. Highly visible examples include lawsuits by Philip Morris International and its competitors against countries like Australia, Norway and Uruguay for implementing strong tobacco control laws.”

Executive Director of CAI, Kelle Louaillier, stated: “Big Tobacco is very publicly bullying countries in hopes they will cave, their neighbours will cave, and treaty implementation will cave. But the tobacco industry’s intimidation has only strengthened the international community’s resolve,” she said.

CAI also released a report titled: “Cutting through the Smoke,” documenting global stories of tobacco abuse and grassroots victories. Stories from the report include “Ending the ‘cancer breaks’: NGOs challenge PMI’s influence in the Philippines” which documents the impact of tobacco’s marketing tactics aimed at women and girls in the region, and the use of corporate social responsibility programmes to protect the corporation’s image.   Also, there is “Shielding the youth: Tireless grassroots groups go up against Big Tobacco in Nigeria” which showcases the industry’s violations of international law in its direct marketing to young people.

Director of Corporate Accountability and Administration of Environmental Rights Activists/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), Mr. Oluwafemi Akinbode, told The Guardian that the tobacco industries in Nigeria were interfering in areas that include finding loopholes in control laws, political influence peddling, excuses of creating job employment and tax remittance to the Federal Government and Corporate Service Responsibility (CSR), among others.

He noted that the guidelines for implementation of WHO tobacco control are clear. For instance, “Article 5.3 of the Convention requires that ‘in setting and implementing their public health policies with respect to tobacco control, parties shall act to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law’.”

Oluwafemi urged President Goodluck Jonathan to speed up the process of signing the NTCB into law, to avail a frame-work for control of tobacco-related health issues in the country and join the comity of nations that have remained committed to public health.

SOURCE

National Tobacco Bill missing on Jonathan’s table

As Nigeria marks the World Tobacco Day today, the National Tobacco Bill which was passed to law by the sixth Senate on March 9, 2011 has developed wings as reports said the bill was missing on the table of President Goodluck Jonathan.

This was the conclusion of stakeholders who met at a round table conference organised by the Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FOFN) in Lagos on the implementation of the National Tobacco Control Bill.

Director Corporate Accountability and Administration in ERA/FOFN, Mr. Oluwafemi Akinbode, lamented that despite the fact that the bill was passed to law about 13 months ago, the president refused to append his signature for it to become law.

According to him, all efforts to know the whereabouts of the bill in the president’s office proved abortive and all those who should know its whereabouts claimed ignorance.

“The information at our disposal indicates that the bill has completed its circle at the National Assembly and has been forwarded to the office of the Presidential Liaison Officer in the National Assembly, Senator Joy Emordi. We are expecting that the bill should be sent to the desk of the President,” he said.

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Senate tasks Jonathan on unsigned bills

Senate President, David Mark

National Assembly has insisted that it will create agencies through legislation when necessary despite the failure of the executive to sign some bills passed by the legislature.

While declaring open the public hearing on the Erosion Control and Prevention Commission Bill, Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, said agencies would be created if they needed to be created, regardless of the current posture of the executive.

He recalled the exchange between members of the National Assembly and President Goodluck Jonathan at the Democracy Day symposium, where members complained of the failure of the President to sign crucial bills passed and sent to him by the legislature.

He said, “And in response, the President said that is because we are creating agencies. We will continue to create agencies if it is important because that is why we are here. So we have to do our job.

“If agencies are to be created they need to be created. Just to add to that most of those bills have nothing to do with agencies. I remember we have the State of the Nation Address Bill, it has nothing to do with agency and it has not been signed.

“We have the National Health Bill; it has nothing to do with an agency. It has not been signed. We have the Air Force Institute of Technology Bill and Tobacco Bill. A whole number of Bills that would have changed a lot of things for this country have not been signed.

“So, my advice to the executive arm of government is to dialogue with the legislature in matter like this and find a common ground instead of shifting blame because the making of laws is dynamic.”

He said the issue raised by the President on the Appropriation Bill was also a distortion of facts.

Ekweremadu said, “The President said that we tore the Appropriation Bill into pieces which made it impossible for implementation. That is not so. I am aware that the 2012 Appropriation bill was returned to the Executive substantially the same way they brought it.

“So we are challenging them to ensure that that Bill, the 2012 Appropriation Act is fully implemented.

“We did that, we gave them back the Appropriation Bill the way it came mostly because all the years they have been complaining that they could not implement the budget because of the input of the National Assembly.

“So this year we said we are not making any input, we are going to give you the Bill the way you brought it as a challenge to ensure that it is implemented. So we expect them to implement it 100 per cent because that is their own vision.”


http://www.punchng.com

Nigerians at risk of looming tobacco epidemic

In recent times, the issue of uncontrolled tobacco use has continued to attract comments from public health experts globally. This is so, following the high morbidity and mortality associated with tobacco use compared to any other risk factor.

While 2011 World Health Organisation (WHO) report revealed that tobacco currently kills over 5.4 million people annually; it also disclosed that tobacco use was the second cause of death globally (after hypertension).

Currently, it is responsible for killing one in 10 adults worldwide. Tobacco use is the number one preventable epidemic that the health community faces.

As Nigeria joined the rest of the World to mark ‘World No Tobacco Day’- a day set apart to draw global attention to the tobacco epidemic and its lethal effects, as well as promote adherence to WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), environmental and health experts have tasked government at all levels to adopt preventive comprehensive health education programmes on smoking cessation and control even as they urged President Goodluck Jonathan to sign the National Tobacco Bill (NTCB).

In an interview with BusinessDay, Akinbode Oluwafemi, director, Corporate Accountability & Administration, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), disclosed that countries across the globe have made strategic efforts to combat the dangers of smoking, especially among the youth by putting laws in place to regulate the production and marketing of tobacco products.

While the enactment of national laws and domestication of WHO’s FCTC are singular efforts in this direction, Akinbode revealed that the National Tobacco Bill, which was passed by the Senate on March 15, 2011 and concurred by the House of Representatives on May 31, 2011, is awaiting the President’s signature in order to make the bill a law.

According to Akinbode, “Nigeria has made giant strides in fulfilling our international obligations by attempting to domesticate the FCTC through the National Tobacco Control Bill. The bill seeks to end advertisement, sponsorship, promotion and prohibit the sale of cigarettes to minors. It recommended pictorial warnings on cigarette packs and ban smoking in public places.

“More importantly, the bill seeks to create a committee, National Tobacco Control Committee which will serve as an advisory role in terms of reviewing the policy. That, essentially, is what the bill is all about.”

Akinbode explained that while the bill seeks 50 percent pictures of the health implications on cigarette packs, Mauritius has already enforced 70percent and Ghana thinking of about 60 percent.

“In fact, some countries like Australia have even gone beyond the pictures and talk about plain packaging. They know it that they cannot debate this because the international community has moved beyond what is even in the bill as at today. This is a bill that has direct impact on Nigerians but we are afraid these gains that we have worked for as civil society organisations, legislators and the Ministry of Health may become futile if the President does not sign the bill. We need to save Nigerian youths from the looming tobacco epidemic,” Akinbode concluded.

Sylvester Osinowo, Africa Regional president, World Association of Family Doctors, (WONCA), pointed out that smoking had been identified to cause the heaviest burden of morbidity and mortality on Nigerians compared to any other risk factor.

Osinowo stated that smoking causes coronary heart diseases, cancer and reduction in fertility for women and poses adverse social, economic and developmental effects on the lives of individuals, their families and the community at large.

“Tobacco consumption causes multiple health risks as cigarette smokers are 2.4 times more likely to develop coronary heart disease than non-smokers. WHO’s cancer agency also indicates that smoking has been linked to about 90 percent of all lung cancer cases. The economic burden includes direct medical care cost for tobacco-induced illnesses, absence from work, reduction in productivity and death,” Osinowo stated.

The physician hinted that the primary health care (PHC) centres nearest to the people should be empowered to do push programmes with vigour to catch the youths before they adopt the serious health hazard habit.

The WONCA president, however, recommended that anti-smoking clinics be established in the PHCs and sickbay of colleges and tertiary institutions to rehabilitate those who were enmeshed already in the habit. He also appealed to family physicians and general medical practitioners to disengage themselves from habits such as smoking so as to be good role models for the society to follow.

While the intervention of the Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu is a singular action that many generations of Nigerians will not forget, it is believed that safeguarding the health of Nigerians from the dangers of tobacco use remains critical in view of rising communicable and non communicable diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, cancer of different types, etc.

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UNSIGNED BILLS: Mark hits back at Jonathan

Senate President David Mark yesterday took on President Goodluck Jonathan over his failure to assent to some bills passed by the National Assembly.

Mark also said the President “distorted facts” when he said on Monday that the lawmakers tore up the budget proposal sent to them thereby making it difficult for the executive to implement it.

“A number of bills that would have changed a lot of things for this country have not been signed,” Mark said at the opening of a public hearing by the Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology on a bill to set up an erosion control commission.

“So, my advice to the executive is to dialogue with the legislature in matters like these and find a common ground instead of shifting blames,” he added, speaking through his representative, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu.

At the Democracy Day symposium on Monday, Jonathan squared up with Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Waziri Tambuwal over the bills that have stayed for a long time in the President’s in-tray.

Tambuwal said Jonathan was shirking his constitutional responsibility by sitting on many bills passed by the National Assembly. In his response, Jonathan accused lawmakers of “tearing” the budget bill and of acting against the manifesto of the ruling PDP.

Yesterday, Mark joined the fray.

“We expressed our displeasure over some of the bills which we have sent to the Presidency for assent since last year that have not received presidential assent. And in response, the president said that it is because we are creating agencies. We will continue to create agencies if it is important, because that is why we are here,” he said.

“So, we have to do our job. Most of those bills have nothing to do with agencies. I remember we have the State of the Nation Address Bill, it has nothing to do with any agency and it has not been signed. We have the National Health Bill. It has nothing to do with an agency. It has not been signed. We have the Air Force Institute of Technology Bill and Tobacco Bills.”

He added: “If institutions are to be created, they will definitely be created. So any person who thinks that the creation of institutions should stop is wasting his time. It would not stop because the society itself is dynamic.”

On the budget bill, Mark said, “I also believe that the issue which he (Jonathan) also raised regarding the Appropriation Bill was also a distortion of facts. The president said that we tore the Appropriation Bill into pieces which made it impossible for implementation. Certainly, that is not so.

“I am aware that the 2012 Appropriation Bill was returned to the executive substantially the same way they brought it. So, we are challenging them to ensure that the 2012 Appropriation Act is fully implemented. They have been complaining that they could not implement the budget because of the inputs of the National Assembly.

“So, this year, we said we are not making any input, we are going to give you the bill the way you brought it as a challenge to ensure that it is implemented.  So we expect them to implement it 100 per cent because that is their own vision.

“Of course, he also made reference to a point where they wanted to go to court to challenge the role of the National Assembly in altering Appropriation Bills. Well, that will be a welcome development.

“So we want to suggest that the executive should please take that step of going to the Supreme Court or any court they wish to look at the constitutionality of our role in terms of appropriation for this country. We will be happy to see the outcome, and of course, we will obey whatever the court says.

“But we believe the National Assembly has the ultimate say when it comes to the appropriation of funds because that is what the constitution says. If the Supreme Court or any other court says otherwise, we would succumb to it and do exactly what the court says.

“Some of these things I think are things we should be able to discuss with the executive. There is need for closer collaboration between the parliament and the executive because if we are close to each other, we can always discuss, we can always dialogue. But if we are far in between, of course, we will be shouting at each other because for you to hear me if we are far between, I have to raise my voice. So I don’t think that is good for democracy.”

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