Hundreds of meetings, €8 million a year: How Big Tobacco lobbies the EU
Big Tobacco's Grip on Brussels: Millions in Lobbying, Hundreds of Meetings, and a Shrinking Space for Public Health
Poinews.com – As the European Union pushes forward with its goal of producing a "tobacco-free generation" by 2040 through the Beating Cancer Plan, the tobacco industry has consolidated its position as one of the most heavily financed corporate lobbying operations in Brussels. Annual spending on direct lobbying of EU institutions is estimated at between €8 million and €10 million, deployed through more than 100 registered lobbyists. That count, however, excludes public relations agencies, law firms, consultancies, and industry-funded think tanks that also work on the sector's behalf.
A Stark Access Imbalance
Transparency International's Integrity Watch database — which aggregates self-declared meetings published by the European Parliament — reveals that tobacco industry representatives and affiliated organisations have ramped up their contact with Members of the European Parliament by 57%, climbing from an average of 14.7 meetings per month to 23 by June 2026. The topics span vaping, heated tobacco products, taxation, and broader tobacco control.
The disparity between commercial and public-health access is striking. During one key legislative period, public health NGOs managed to secure just 12 meetings with influential MEPs, while Philip Morris International alone logged 121.
"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.
Who Is Lobbying, and What Do They Want?
The lobbying campaign is anchored by the world's largest tobacco corporations — Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International, and Imperial Brands — working alongside trade bodies such as Tobacco Europe and advocacy outfits including the World Vapers' Alliance. Although each firm pursues its own commercial agenda, their shared objectives centre on lighter regulation and lower taxes for emerging nicotine products: heated tobacco, vaping devices, and nicotine pouches.
"Obviously, if there's this many meetings, it means that there's also an interest in trying to influence legislation," said Kergueno.
Vaping features prominently in the meeting records. As Kergueno noted, it surfaces repeatedly across the database entries, making it a central area where the industry seeks to shape forthcoming regulation. Equally, tobacco companies actively resist flavour bans, plain-packaging mandates, stricter product-tracking systems, and higher excise duties on conventional cigarettes.
Two Major Legislative Frameworks Derailed
The intensity of this lobbying bore fruit in the alteration and eventual derailment of two significant pieces of legislation: the Tobacco Taxation Directive (TTD) and the forthcoming Tobacco Control Framework. On 17 June, the European Parliament voted down the TTD by 439 to 181, citing internal contradictions in the final text. A key driver was the Kubin report — a controversial legislative draft that wove tobacco industry arguments into the directive by proposing sharply reduced minimum tax rates for vapes and nicotine pouches.
Erin Roman, Director of the Smoke Free Partnership, laid out the public-health critique in a press release:
"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."
"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.
The Rapporteur's Defence
Thomas Kubin, Patriots for Europe MEP and rapporteur of the proposal, offered his own perspective to 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 sta"
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