Tobacco lobby steps up Brussels push as EU rewrites rules

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European lawmakers have held four times as many meetings with tobacco and nicotine lobbyists in the past two years compared with the entire previous parliamentary term, according to data analyzed by POLITICO.

Since this Parliament took office in the summer of 2024, more than 400 meetings have been declared, compared with about 100 in the 2019-2024 term, according to data collected by the Smoke Free Partnership, a coalition of NGOs, from the Transparency Register. European lawmakers are required to publicly disclose their meetings on the register.  

Meanwhile, most meetings this term were with right-leaning MEPs. Some 75% were with lawmakers from the center-right European People’s Party, the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists and the far-right Patriots for Europe groups.

Meetings with tobacco and nicotine groups have ramped up this term as the EU seeks to overhaul several key pieces of tobacco and nicotine legislation. The EU has also proposed measures this session to curb heart disease and cancer, plans that also affect the sector.

Some MEPs have called out the tobacco industry’s access to lawmakers as they negotiate measures to prevent addiction and disease caused by the sector’s products, such as in a cardiovascular disease strategy report and cancer plan. 

“I find it scandalous and shocking that there are more meetings with the tobacco industry than the NGOs and the associations that advocate for stop smoking,” Tilly Metz, a lawmaker with the Greens/European Free Alliance, said.

“When you are working on health files, it is completely incompatible to regularly meet with the tobacco industry,” she said. Metz referenced the World Health Organization’s tobacco control treaty, which says policymakers should meet with tobacco lobbyists only when strictly necessary to discuss the sector's regulation. 

The tobacco industry and MEPs who regularly meet with industry say they have done nothing wrong.

British American Tobacco’s head of fiscal affairs, Simon Trussler, said that like any other business in Europe, it had legitimate experiences and arguments to put forward “because we see what's going on on the ground.”

Marlboro manufacturer Philip Morris International, whose meetings accounted for the most of any tobacco company, pointed out its contribution to the European economy and that the firm is “undergoing a deep transformation towards a smoke-free future.” 

“We are proud to contribute to the democratic dialogue and to engage with any MEP, from any political group, who is open to discuss on the basis of science and facts and our determination to be part of the solution," said the company, which also sells nicotine pouches, vapes and heated tobacco products.

Global treaty debate

One concern raised by Metz and other MEPs is whether World Health Organization tobacco control rules are being followed correctly.

The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control stipulates that public health policies need to be protected against industry’s commercial interests. It doesn’t ban lobbying, but guidelines to implement the treaty say that policymakers should limit interactions with the sector to what is strictly necessary for the purposes of regulating it, and ensure transparency of those meetings. 

Industry maintains it operates within the rules and presents its perspective transparently. The sector also points to a 2022 European Court of Justice judgment stating that the treaty doesn’t prohibit industry participation in implementing tobacco control; it is “intended solely to prevent the tobacco control policies of the parties to the convention from being influenced by that industry’s interests.”

In addition, the sector argues that the WHO framework doesn’t cover tobacco-free nicotine products. These products are especially in the firing line for stricter regulations as Europe seeks to overhaul tobacco products and advertising rules, as well as EU minimum taxes.

BAT’s Trussler said the company complied with all regulations and was transparent in how it did so. The WHO’s framework on tobacco control has been “misquoted and misunderstood,” Trussler claimed. 

The company also argued that the FCTC's scope is limited to products made from tobacco leaf.

That’s not the position of the World Health Organization. Kristina Mauer-Stender, WHO Europe’s regional adviser on tobacco control, pointed out the scope of the treaty “extends beyond reducing tobacco consumption.”

Article 5.2(b) requires parties to adopt and implement effective legislative and other measures “for preventing and reducing tobacco consumption, nicotine addiction and exposure to tobacco smoke,” she said. “Therefore, preventing nicotine addiction is an explicit objective of the Convention's implementation, rather than merely an indirect consideration.”

The Conference of the Parties’ decisions have also progressively addressed novel and emerging tobacco and nicotine products, she added.

Clusters

The data comes following criticism that the European People’s Party watered down language on tobacco in a non-binding cardiovascular disease report this summer. 

EPP lawmakers suggested changing the wording around nicotine having the “same” regulation as tobacco to instead having “appropriate rules.” This was supported by two MEPs who had held the third most meetings with industry — Jessica Polfjärd and Elena Nevado del Campo.

The final report adopted by the European Parliament reflected the proposal. 

Socialists and Democrats MEP Romana Jerković, who led the report in the health committee, said at the time she wished it could have been more ambitious on tobacco. 

Lobbying has also intensified as the European Commission prepares to release several updated regulations on tobacco and nicotine products.

The Smoke Free Partnership says spikes in meetings cluster around key policy initiatives, such as the tax directive. “While meetings alone cannot prove direct influence on decisions, they highlight the industry’s opportunities to shape the legislative debate,” Director Erin Roman said. 

However, transparency around industry meetings was not sufficient, Roman said, adding that meetings should only be “strictly necessary for effective regulation.”

To another Socialists and Democrats MEP, the lobbying has gone too far.

“Amendments weakening new tobacco products rules in a plan to fight Europe’s biggest killer didn’t come from nowhere: the groups meeting the industry most are the ones watering down the rules,” Spain’s Nicolás González Casares said.

Political trends

MEPs who have met with industry the most this parliamentary term mostly hail from the right. 

Patriots MEP Auke Zijlstra held the most meetings with 14, followed by ECR’s Pietro Fiocchi with nine. The EPP’s Michalis Hadjipantela, Elena Nevado del Campo and Jessica Polfjärd all declared eight.

Zijlstra said he always spoke with any industry when a legislative proposal was on the table that would impact them. 

“I do not think that I had too many meetings regarding tobacco and nicotine legislation. Taking an interest in the field is an absolute part of the job, and I don’t understand MEPs who have an opinion without,” he added.

He also denied the industry was overrepresented in meetings with lawmakers, saying, “There are a lot of consumers out there.” He encouraged NGOs to ask for more meetings to explain their point of view. 

The Smoke Free Partnership said it had faced “significant pressure” on its resources due to the withdrawal of EU operating grants last year. “We have continued engaging with policymakers and coordinating independent public health expertise, but reduced funding means difficult choices about what activities can be prioritized,” it said, adding there was an imbalance between industry’s resources. 

A spokesperson for Hadjipantela said he engages with a broad range of stakeholders as he’s a member of six committees. He “remains fully independent in his assessments and decisions,” the spokesperson said, adding: “Meeting with a stakeholder does not imply endorsement of their views or interests.”

Meanwhile, Nevado Del Campo said her meetings with tobacco representatives were because of the large number of tobacco producers in her region, and she had a duty to listen to the sector as it was a large employer. She also met with groups on the other side of the debate. “My commitment is with a healthy Europe and, at the same time, to those farmers who get up every day to work the fields of Extremadura and boost our regional economy.”

Fiocchi and Polfjärd did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication. 

Topics and countries

A large number of meetings covered the tobacco taxation directive, which is currently making its way through the Council of the EU. The directive will put minimum taxes on nicotine and tobacco products and expand the definition of what is covered. 

Other topics discussed and declared included tobacco products and advertising directives, as well as “harm reduction.” The Commission is currently drafting revisions of the products and advertising rules.

Lawmakers declared at least 178 meetings with Philip Morris International representatives — far more than any other tobacco manufacturer. Second was British American Tobacco with 60. 

Further data shared with POLITICO by Transparency International EU shows that PMI ranked fourth behind Meta, Google and Apple as companies that had met the most MEPs and their assistants. A POLITICO investigation last year revealed PMI also successfully lobbied the European Commission. 

The Transparency Register data also shows which countries are more willing to listen to tobacco lobbyists.

MEPs from Italy, the bloc’s leading tobacco leaf producer, met with the industry far more than other nationalities — more than one in five declared meetings of tobacco industry representatives in the Parliament involved an Italian lawmaker.

This was in part driven by Italian company Manifatture Sigaro Toscano meeting exclusively with Italian MEPs. Just under half of BAT’s meetings were with Italian MEPs. The country was also well represented in meetings with PMI, although German lawmakers declared having met the company slightly more.

The dataset, which relies on lawmakers' declarations of their meetings, likely offers a conservative snapshot of tobacco lobbying in Parliament. POLITICO removed declarations with insufficient information, but also added meetings declared more recently.

Large tobacco companies are broadly working to migrate consumers onto nicotine products under what they describe as a “harm reduction” approach. They argue nicotine and smoke-free products are better alternatives to smoking tobacco and so need to be enticing enough for people to use over cigarettes. 

Proponents dispute this, saying people don’t need to be exposed to addictive products. They also point to the high use of nicotine pouches and products among young people, who otherwise weren’t smoking. 

At least 28 meetings in the dataset referenced public health measures, rather than tobacco regulation or taxation, although this is likely non-exhaustive, as a large number of self-declared descriptions remain vague. Two meetings explicitly mentioned cardiovascular diseases. 

Greens MEP Metz was part of a group of lawmakers who pushed to restrict tobacco lobbyists’ access to EU lawmakers and accused the Parliament of failing to live up to its obligations under the WHO tobacco control treaty. But this push failed earlier this year. 

Metz said she will “continue to fight” for Parliament to fully respect the framework controlling tobacco.