Between the CEU graduation ceremony, in mid June this year, when I left for home and my comeback in the beginning of the October a few significant changes for smokers were made in Hungary. Since I am a smoker myself I noticed them almost immediately, in other words when I had to buy the first pack of cigarettes. Specialized shops for tobacco and other related product popped out like spring flowers on almost every corner of main streets of Budapest. However, they have their own work regime and new prices for all tobacco products, higher of course.
I looked for the explanation from the poor sources that I had at the disposal and found out that Nemzeti Dohanybolt (National tobacco shop) is just one of many state measures for “civilizing” Hungarians. To protect their youngsters (age <18) from cunning and greedy shopkeepers or sellers in corporate supermarkets who will sell them deadly tobacco products. In some cases the logo of these new shops clearly says that minors are not welcome into these gray blended rooms where tobacco addicts buy their daily dope.
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| "Just getting some cigarettes!" |
But what stands behind this ethical pro-health measure? When I investigated non-Hungarian sources on Internet the first things that were jumping out of the picture were a few keywords: Fidesz, non-profit state tobacco organization/agency and concessions. Basically the state (Fidesz) implemented a law according to which they nationalized the right to sell tobacco products and immediately sold it in the form of concessions to certain interested parties. Although this time, noticeably, previous distributors were ruled out with almost none of the shops that had tobacco products before still selling them today. Part of the new act involved the design of the stores’ interior and logos they have to have as designated tobacco sell points. It is a text-book example of clientelism. To confirm it one must go into backgrounds of people who actually got the concession (there is a full list on the Nemzeti Dohanybolt official web-page). At the end of the day, places for buying tobacco in Hungary reduced from around 40 000 to 5 000. Also, not all areas got their concession for the shop. Hence, while on one Budapest street there are few shops in some villages or small cities citizens have to travel several kilometers to buy their cigarettes. Why is there such a disproportion in awarding concessions? Only the Agency and their masters knows. This case reminded me of things I have read about the wild privatization during Tudman’s reign in Croatia in the early nineties. First, the all-powerful Party (HDZ) nationalized the whole economy (in a self-managing economy production is the peoples’ property) and through privatization agencies literary gave it or sold it for few pennies to trusted newly borne tycoons that are still today “harassing” majority of the Croatian labour in neoliberal fashion (precarian work and minimum wages).
The Hungarian tobacco case is in a great respect similar to great modernizing post-communist plunder that took place in all East-European countries. Hiding behind health and a moral agenda, the Party made just another good business decision using their untouchable position in the Hungarian Parliament, secured by the high number of seats they are holding. The question that remains and most probably will remain is how much the “non-profit” agency and Fidesz will put in their pockets at the end of every financial year for conducting health and moral measures? In the end I have to admit that tobacco addiction and the health issues that the subject always implies when these topics are open is a sensitive field. I myself plan to quit because of health issues and the intolerance of my wallet for daily cigarette needs and would never encourage anybody to start smoking. Therefore, I am glad that I had a chance to look into this matter and put another reason on the list of pros to stop smoking.
A disgruntled smoker
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