Persistent influence of the tobacco industry at the heart of European institutions

According to an investigation by the Dutch media TabakNee[1], representatives of the tobacco industry are increasing their meetings with members of the European Parliament. More than two hundred meetings have reportedly taken place in just over a year, often at the initiative of the largest multinational groups. These interactions, focused around the ongoing revisions of European directives on tobacco products and taxation, raise major questions about the European Union's compliance with its commitments under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), and in particular its Article 5.3, which requires protecting public policies from tobacco industry interference.

Particularly intense lobbying at the heart of European institutions

14 Since June 2024, more than 220 meetings have been recorded between industry representatives and members of the European Parliament, compared to only around 40 for public health organizations. This asymmetry of access illustrates a profound imbalance in the health policy-making process and calls into question the capacity and willingness of institutions to guarantee the transparency and integrity of their decisions.

These discussions accelerated sharply from the summer of 2024, when the European Commission presented its proposal to revise the Tobacco Excise Directive. Around thirty meetings took place in the weeks following this publication, reflecting a clear desire on the part of tobacco companies to directly influence the content of the reform. The discussions focused mainly on the taxation of tobacco and nicotine products, as well as the revision of the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD). In the majority of cases, manufacturers advocated a so-called "harm reduction" approach, seeking favorable provisions for electronic devices, heated tobacco, or nicotine pouches.

Data from the Transparency Register shows that this strategy is being driven by the world's largest groups: Philip Morris International, present at nearly half of the identified meetings, British American Tobacco, and Japan Tobacco International are also among the most active players. The industry is primarily targeting the majority political groups in the European Parliament, notably the European People's Party (EPP) and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), seen as potential vehicles for a more permissive approach to taxation and regulation. Conversely, exchanges with progressive or environmental groups remain rare.

Geographical analysis of contacts also shows a concentration of efforts in certain key countries, such as Italy, Germany, Spain, and Sweden, where the tobacco and new nicotine product markets remain particularly dynamic. These targeted actions reflect a coordinated influence strategy at the European level, combining institutional lobbying, media communication, and direct interventions with parliamentarians.

In parallel with these official meetings, the industry is strengthening its presence in the European public space through communication campaigns and sponsored platforms in specialist general media.[2]These contents, often presented under the guise of scientific debate, aim to present alternative products as public health solutions, even though they remain highly addictive and their effectiveness in reducing smoking has not been demonstrated.

All of these elements paint a picture of a particularly structured lobbying effort, seeking to influence not only the European regulatory framework but also the public narrative surrounding tobacco and nicotine. This intensity of action, at a time when several major reforms are under consideration, underlines the need for European institutions to strengthen their safeguards in order to protect the general interest and preserve the primacy of public health over the economic interests of the industry.

A governance issue for European health policies

The intensification of tobacco industry lobbying in the European Parliament highlights a fundamental governance issue: the ability of the European Union's institutions to guarantee the independence of its public health policies from commercial interests, particularly those of industries whose objectives are recognized as irreconcilable with those of health. As the revisions of the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) and the Tobacco Taxation Directive (TTD) enter a decisive phase, the increase in interactions between political decision-makers and industry representatives is weakening the coherence of the commitments made by the Union under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). This influence also undermines compliance with this fundamental article of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which stipulates that "a high level of human health protection shall be ensured in the definition and implementation of all Union policies and activities."

The revised directives are essential for adapting European legislation to the rapidly evolving nicotine market. The TPD aims to regulate the composition, presentation, and marketing of tobacco and related products, while the TTD defines the taxation applicable to these products within the internal market. The industry is seeking to steer these two aspects in a complementary manner: on the tax front, it advocates for differentiated treatment of so-called "new generation" products; on the regulatory front, it seeks to delay or weaken control and restriction measures based on the argument of harm reduction. These positions, presented as pragmatic or scientific, serve above all to preserve company profitability and delay effective prevention policies.

The risk of conflict of interest is all the more worrying given that the current debates extend beyond the European framework. In November, the eleventh Conference of the Parties (COP11) to the FCTC will bring together member states to discuss new global directions in tobacco control. The issue of protecting public policies against interference from economic actors will be a key issue on the agenda. The European Union plays a central role in these negotiations, as a regional bloc and as a Party to the treaty, speaking on behalf of the 27 European member states, all of which are also Parties. Faced with the powerful lobby deployed within its borders, the European Union is called upon to support strong positions in this area. Its exemplary domestic performance also determines its credibility in international negotiations.

In this context, the issue of transparency and control of interactions with industry, limited to what is strictly necessary, becomes crucial. While the European Parliament's transparency register is a first step, it alone does not allow for effective oversight of exchanges. Meetings are rarely accompanied by a public report, and their frequency is not subject to any limitation. In practice, it is up to each institution, or even each elected representative, to define its own red lines. This lack of a binding framework opens the way to disproportionate influence by economic actors, to the detriment of public health objectives. However, the provisions protecting public policies do not only concern health actors who have taken measures at their level, but all of the Union's commissions and institutions.

Several civil society organizations are calling for strengthening existing safeguards. Recurring proposals include the establishment of an explicit ban on contact between parliamentarians and representatives of the tobacco industry during the drafting phases of legislative texts, except during structured public hearings; the systematic publication of the minutes of these meetings; and the inclusion of conflict of interest prevention clauses in the code of conduct of European institutions. These measures aim to establish a level of transparency and ethics consistent with the EU's international commitments. By exposing themselves to the direct influence of tobacco manufacturers, European parliamentarians risk undermining decades of progress in the fight against smoking. Safeguarding public health requires ensuring independent governance, based on scientific evidence and not on the economic interests of industries whose products remain responsible for more than 700,000 premature deaths each year within the Union.

Ensuring this independence is not just a matter of legal compliance: it is an essential condition for building a Europe that truly protects the health of its citizens, consistent with the objective set by the Commission of achieving a tobacco-free generation by 2040, anti-smoking associations point out.

Contacts between the tobacco industry and French MEPs

Data from the European Transparency Register shows that several French MEPs[3] were also directly contacted by representatives of the tobacco industry or its affiliated organizations. These exchanges, documented between 2024 and 2025, concern in particular the revision of European directives on tobacco products and taxation, as well as the place of new nicotine products in future European regulations.

In September 2024, Marie-Luce Brasier-Clain (Patriots for Europe / National Rally) met with the European Cigar Manufacturers Federation, before receiving representatives from Philip Morris International in September 2025 as part of the SANT parliamentary committee. For his part, Thierry Mariani (Patriots for Europe / National Rally) held a meeting in July 2024 with Tobacco Europe AISBL, an organization representing several major European manufacturers.

A major imbalance of access between industry and healthcare players

Faced with this sustained industrial lobbying activity, public health stakeholders appear largely marginalized in European institutional dialogue. According to data from the Transparency Register, only 39 meetings were recorded between representatives of health organizations—associations, NGOs, or specialized institutions—and members of the European Parliament over the same period. This figure, when compared with the more than 220 exchanges conducted by the tobacco industry, reflects a structural imbalance in access to European decision-makers.

This ratio of nearly six to one in favor of the tobacco companies illustrates the persistent difficulty health actors have in making their positions heard in a political environment heavily influenced by the interests of cigarette companies and representatives of the tobacco and nicotine products sector. Whereas tobacco multinationals have considerable resources, established networks of influence, and specialized firms to defend their interests, public health organizations often operate with very limited human and financial resources, focusing their efforts on monitoring, research, and evidence-based advocacy.

This asymmetry compromises the principle of fairness in public policymaking. By focusing its attention on industry arguments, the European Parliament risks diminishing the voice of public health at a time when decisions on nicotine taxation and regulation are most crucial.

©Generation Without Tobacco

AE

[1] Tobacco lobby is paralyzing the European Parliament, TabakNee, published October 8, 2025, accessed October 10, 2025

[2] Tobacco-free generation, A global disinformation offensive ahead of COP11, published October 8, 2025, accessed October 10, 2025

[3] Lobbycontacten Europees Parliament, TabakNee, published October 8, 2025, accessed October 10, 2025