The European Commission’s Help campaign was once again at the forefront of the anti-tobacco lobby supporting the National Youth Councils at a press conference held recently at the offices of the CREDAL Network in Ta’ Xbiex. At this press conference, the youths presented the European Youth Manifesto officially to the Maltese government. The European Youth Manifesto is an initiative of the Help campaign organised in partnership with the European Youth Forum aiming to organise a Europe-wide consultation with European youths around the issue of tobacco. The consultation aimed to produce a “Young European Manifesto, for a life without tobacco”. This manifesto thus represents the collection of young Europeans’ views on the issue of tobacco today. It clearly demonstrates that youths are prepared to take initiatives to make things change – at social, legislative or political levels.
A specific pan-EU country media plan was designed to support the launch of the process: a web wave encouraged young people to come and voice their opinions on a dedicated website – www.youth-
andtobacco.com and these were taken into account by the manifesto delegates during their debates. The Youth Manifesto process took place in Belgium last year with close to 200 delegates from the 25 member states.
In introducing the event, Stephen D’Alessandro, managing director of CREDAL Business Consulting Ltd, local representatives of LBC Consortium entrusted by the European Commission with the handling of the campaign in all the EU countries, spoke about the significance of the youth’s contribution to the project. “This is your day – it’s an appreciation of all the hard work that has gone into the formulation of the manifesto.”
Alessia Zammit, president of KNZ, Kunsill Nazzjonali Zghazagh, spoke about the youth’s efforts in developing the manifesto and highlighted the points proposed in the manifesto. She spoke about the attention to detail that the youths had gone to in getting feedback from youths in Malta. To best illustrate the process adopted in Malta a video presentation was shown highlighting the Kunsill Nazzjonali Zghazagh campaign to develop a national youth manifesto. In conclusion, Ms Zammit presented an official copy of the Young European Manifesto for a life without Tobacco to Dr Ray Busuttil, director general of the Ministry of Health, on behalf of the Minister of Health. Dr Mario Spiteri, director of the Health Promotion Department, close collaborators of the Help campaign, also represented the Ministry of Health at the press conference.
In addressing the press conference Dr Busuttil congratulated the youths on their initiative and commitment and thanked them on behalf of the minister for helping to make the manifesto a reality. He applauded their commitment and dedication which he felt were going to be required to sustain the effort to improve healthy lifestyles in Malta. Dr Busuttil commented on the successes achieved by the Ministry of Health in combating the scourge of tobacco, as tobacco-related illnesses have been identified as one of the major causes of death in Malta. Thus while there was evidence of a decline in the total number of smokers, youths still defied the logic and took up smoking. This was reflected in the lack of success in the enforcement of the smoking laws in bars and discos, compared to the majority of other places of entertainment, such as restaurants.
Dr Joanna Drake, head of the European Commission’s Representative office in Malta, congratulated the youths on their support for such an initiative. She spoke about the role of the European Representative office in Malta and its support for ongoing EU projects. She applauded the youths’ project as a very concrete demonstration of the interest in the EU and its projects by Maltese youths. Dr Drake commented briefly on the ongoing efforts of the European Commission to
get closer to the citizen, with the 2007 programme focusing on the health sector. The Young European Manifesto against tobacco provided an excellent opportunity for the EC to reflect this commitment.
Olivier Duquaine, PR & event coordinator of B&S Worldcom Brussels, flew to Malta for the press conference to represent the consortium that was entrusted by the European Commission with promoting the anti-tobacco campaign, launched by Commissioner Kyprianou in 2004. Mr Duquaine gave a brief overview of the Help campaign and the manner in which the European Commission is promoting the benefits of a “Life without Tobacco”.
The “Help – For a life without tobacco” campaign of the European Commission, initiated by European Commissioner Markos Kyprianou, aims at convincing people not to start or to quit smoking with a TV campaign and different promotional activities in the 27 European member states.
The campaign targets in particular young adolescents and young adults. The Official Internet site of the EU Help Campaign is www.help-eu.com.