Den illegale handel, hvis det da er illegal handel at købe billige cigaretter i et EU-land, hvor der er betalt skat for dem, og sælge dem i et andet EU-land, hvor de er dyrere. Hvis det altså er ulovligt - hvad det efter min mening ikke er, det er bare den måde, det indre marked fungerer på - men i den grad, det altså er ulovligt, eller hvis der ikke er blevet betalt skat sådan som i Englands tilfælde, så vil det ikke ændre situationen for dette land, der virkelig lider under cigaretsmugleri - 50% af de cigaretter, der ryges i England, er ulovlige cigaretter, netop fordi beskatningen har skruet priserne på dem helt i vejret - så situationen i England vil altså ikke blive påvirket, for priserne i Belgien, Holland eller Frankrig, hvorfra smugleriet foregår, bliver ikke påvirket af Kommissionens forslag.
Indeed smuggling - if it is smuggling to buy cheap cigarettes in one country of the Union in which the tax on them has been paid and sell them in another country in the Union in which they are more expensive, which in my view it is not, it is the normal working of the single market, but insofar as it is smuggling or if the tax is not paid, as in the case of England, where the situation will not change and which has a serious cigarette smuggling problem, with 50% of cigarettes smoked in England smuggled in, precisely because the tax costs as much as the price of the cigarettes, the situation will not be affected in England because the Commission proposal will not affect prices in Belgium, Holland or France, which is where the smuggled cigarettes come from.