Philip Morris is pressuring von der Leyen to join the European debate on competitiveness

In March 2026, Philip Morris International (PMI)[1] sent a letter to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, demanding a voice in the debates on the revision of tobacco legislation in the name of industrial competitiveness. The tobacco giant deployed a range of arguments—threatened jobs, expanding illicit trade, the transition to a cigarette-free world—which public health organizations and available independent data refute point by point. This episode illustrates once again the lobbying pressure that tobacco companies exert on European institutions at the very moment when Brussels is preparing to revise two major directives governing tobacco and nicotine products.