Tobacco lobbying: European institutions struggle to contain the influence of tobacco companies

As the European Union prepares several major reforms concerning tobacco and nicotine products, new revelations and investigations highlight the persistent extent of the tobacco industry's influence within European institutions. Despite the ethical reforms undertaken by the European Parliament following the Qatargate scandal, several public health organizations and MEPs denounce the still insufficient transparency mechanisms in the face of manufacturers' interference strategies. These concerns arise in a particularly sensitive context marked by the anticipated revisions of the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), the Tobacco Tax Directive (TTD), and the Tobacco Advertising Directive (TAD), all of which could directly affect the economic interests of the tobacco and nicotine industries.

The tobacco industry still has a massive presence in Brussels

Despite European commitments to transparency and public health, the tobacco industry retains significant access to European policymakers. According to several recent analyses of lobbying activities in Brussels, tobacco manufacturers and their affiliated organizations continue to increase their interactions with European institutions in order to influence future regulatory frameworks applicable to tobacco and nicotine products.[1].

A report published by the organizations STOP and Contre-Feu[2] The report identifies 257 meetings between representatives of the tobacco industry and members of the European Parliament between 2023 and September 2025. Philip Morris International alone accounts for more than 121 of these meetings during this period. By comparison, the Smoke Free Partnership, the leading European anti-smoking alliance, recorded only about a dozen meetings with MEPs over the same period.

The report also highlights the existence of a vast lobbying network mobilized by manufacturers in Brussels, comprising nearly 49 organizations directly or indirectly linked to the tobacco industry, with lobbying expenditures estimated at around €14 million per year. These influence strategies particularly concern discussions regarding new nicotine-containing products, heated tobacco products, tobacco taxation, and future European regulations on advertising and promotion.

Controversial contacts with the European Commission

These concerns have recently been heightened by revelations concerning several exchanges between representatives of the tobacco industry and European officials from the Directorate-General for Trade (DG TRADE). In late April 2026, several Members of the European Parliament called for an internal investigation to clarify the circumstances under which certain meetings were allegedly held with representatives of Philip Morris International.

According to reports in several European media outlets, some of these exchanges were not published in accordance with transparency requirements applicable to interactions with the tobacco industry. The discussions reportedly focused on trade and regulatory measures concerning heated tobacco products, e-cigarettes, and certain national public health policies.

These revelations raise important questions about the effective implementation of Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), ratified by the European Union and its Member States. This article requires public authorities to protect public health policies from the commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry. The associated guidelines specify, in particular, that interactions with manufacturers must be strictly limited to regulatory requirements, fully transparent, and rigorously controlled.

Ethical reforms are still insufficient in the face of tobacco lobbying

Since the Qatargate scandal, the European Parliament has undertaken several reforms aimed at strengthening its integrity, transparency, and accountability. These measures include expanding the requirements for declaring meetings with lobbyists, toughening sanctions for breaches of the code of conduct, improving the management of conflicts of interest, and introducing new rules regarding former Members of the European Parliament and access to Parliament premises.

However, several public health organizations believe that these general rules remain insufficient when applied to the tobacco industry. Unlike other economic sectors, the tobacco industry is subject to a specific legal regime under international public health law. Under Article 5.3 of the UNFCCC, public institutions must protect health policies from the commercial interests of this industry, due to the fundamental incompatibility between public health objectives and the economic interests of manufacturers.

In this context, many organizations believe that European institutions continue to treat the tobacco industry as just another stakeholder in regulatory debates, on par with other economic sectors. This approach contributes to trivializing the influence of a sector whose business model relies on the sale of addictive products and which is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year within the European Union.

Several analyses also highlight that transparency rules are still applied unevenly across European institutions. While some directorates-general now have specific procedures governing interactions with tobacco manufacturers, other departments continue to maintain insufficiently documented exchanges with industry representatives.

New nicotine products at the heart of influence strategies

European debates surrounding new nicotine products are now emerging as a key area of influence for tobacco manufacturers. These companies are particularly focused on promoting heated tobacco products, e-cigarettes, and nicotine pouches as "harm reduction" tools, aiming to secure more favorable regulations and tax treatment than that applied to traditional cigarettes.

This strategy comes in a context where several major European texts are due for revision soon, notably the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), the Tobacco Tax Directive (TTD), and the Tobacco Advertising Directive (TAD). These reforms could lead to a significant strengthening of the regulation of nicotine-containing products within the European Union.

Public health organizations are therefore warning of the risk that manufacturers may use their privileged access to European decision-makers to weaken certain future public health measures, delay reforms or promote regulatory approaches that are favorable to their commercial interests.

A major issue for the credibility of European public health policies

Beyond mere questions of institutional transparency, these new revelations serve as a reminder that tobacco industry interference remains a structural threat to the development of public health policies. While the European Union has committed, within the framework of the European Cancer Action Plan, to creating a "tobacco-free generation" by 2040, strict adherence to Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control appears more crucial than ever to the credibility and effectiveness of European public action.

In this context, several public health organizations are calling on European institutions to further strengthen the rules applicable to interactions with the tobacco industry, to improve the transparency of contacts with manufacturers and to ensure a uniform application of the obligations arising from the WHO Framework Convention within all European institutions.

©Generation Without Tobacco

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[1] Rory O'Neill, EU lawmakers fail to rein in tobacco lobbyists in Brussels, Politico, published June 4, 2026, accessed the same day

[2] Thomas Mangin, MEPs demand urgent probe into EU trade officials' ties to tobacco industry, Euractiv, published on April 30, 2026, accessed on June 5, 2026