Hundreds of meetings, €8 million a year: How Big Tobacco lobbies the EU
A massive surge in tobacco industry lobbying is undercutting the European Union’s public health agenda, derailing legislative proposals, and triggering a political battles over new nicotine products.
EU lawmakers are increasingly giving in to the influence of the tobacco lobby.
According to Transparency International's Integrity Watch database, meetings between tobacco industry representatives and MEPs have increased by 57%, rising from an average of 14.7 meetings per month to 23 by June 2026. The database, which compiles self-declared meetings published by the European Parliament, shows that tobacco companies and affiliated organisations have consistently lobbied lawmakers on issues ranging from vaping and heated tobacco to taxation and tobacco control.
The tobacco industry has become one of the most powerful and well-funded corporate lobbying forces in Brussels as the EU advances its ambition of creating a "tobacco-free generation" by 2040 under the Beating Cancer Plan.
The sector is estimated to spend between €8 million and €10 million annually on direct lobbying of EU institutions and employs more than 100 registered lobbyists dedicated to influencing policy, a figure that excludes public relations firms, law firms, consultancies, and industry-backed think tanks working on its behalf.
Advocacy groups argue that this huge access creates a stark imbalance between commercial interests and public health voices. During one key legislative period, for example, public health NGOs secured only 12 meetings with influential MEPs, while Philip Morris International alone held 121 meetings.
"If we look specifically at the top 20 of where the tobacco industry is really lobbying, we find virtually no NGOs. So, they definitely have more access," Raphaël Kergueno, Senior Policy Officer at Transparency International EU, told Euronews.
At the centre of this lobbying campaign are the world's largest tobacco companies - Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International, and Imperial Brands- alongside trade associations such as Tobacco Europe and advocacy groups including the World Vapers' Alliance.
"Obviously, if there's this many meetings, it means that there's also an interest in trying to influence legislation”, said Kergueno.
While each company pursues its own commercial priorities, they broadly seek lower taxes and lighter regulation for emerging nicotine products such as heated tobacco, vaping devices, and nicotine pouches.
According to Kergueno, "vaping is one of the main topics of the lobbying. If you look at the meetings, vaping is a subject that comes repeatedly. Clearly, this is a main subject area, trying to shape the regulation around vaping.”
Tobacco companies also want to resist measures including flavour bans, plain packaging, stricter tracking systems, and higher excise duties on conventional cigarettes.
A political text nobody liked
These meetings contributed to the alteration and derailing of 2 major legal frameworks: the Tobacco Taxation Directive (TTD) and the upcoming Tobacco Control Framework.
On June 17, the European Parliament rejected the TTD with 439 to 181 votes because the final text was deemed too contradictory. This was partly caused by the Kubin report, a controversial legislative draft that embedded tobacco industry arguments into the directive by proposing drastically reduced minimum tax rates for vapes and nicotine pouches.
"Kubín's report approved last month by the [Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) Committee] substantially suggested to weaken the Commission's proposal. The text included several problematic elements, including a 'less harm, less tax' approach... Altogether, it reflected long-standing tobacco industry narratives on 'harm reduction', while overlooking the growing body of independent evidence on nicotine addiction, youth uptake, and the risks associated with new products”, explained Erin Roman, Director of the Smoke Free Partnership, in a press release.
"The absence of an adopted opinion is preferable to a weakened position that directly mirrors industry framing, creating an important opportunity to restore the public health ambition of the Tobacco Taxation Directive. The final legislation must deliver meaningful price increases, greater convergence across Member States and effective taxation of all tobacco and nicotine products to protect Europe's youth and reduce tobacco-related harm”, he added.
Thomas Kubin, Patriots for Europe MEP and rapporteur of the proposal, also shared his view with Euronews: “With the rising of taxes, you will not save the world. I mean, you will not prevent people from smoking. [...] If we go the way of the Commission proposal, then in all the states the tax earnings will start to fall down and the illicit trade - mostly smuggling but also counterfeit products - will be rising."
The report that reached the European Parliament's plenary was no longer a coherent proposal. After months of negotiations, the original Commission draft had been extensively amended to make tax increases more gradual, particularly for newer nicotine products such as e-cigarettes, heated tobacco and nicotine pouches.
Public health organisations argued these changes weakened the proposal by introducing a "less harm, less tax" approach and giving novel products, like vapes, more favourable treatment than originally planned.
Following the Parliament's rejection, the TTD is effectively deadlocked, forcing the European Commission to either draft a brand-new legislative proposal or wait for the EU Council of Member States to attempt to resurrect tax negotiations under a future presidency.
US-Palestinian dual citizen Louai Abu Ridi, whose home in the occupied West Bank village of Qusra is besieged by Israeli settlers, checks his property fence in Qusra. © Ilia Yefimovich, AFP
