Friday

24th Mar 2023

Tobacco firms under fire for EU lobbying

  • Andriukaitis and Chan warned that Greece is more tobacco friendly (Photo: microturbian)

Lobbying by companies such as Philip Morris risks harming the EU's new anti-tobacco law, senior policy makers have said.

Lithuania's health minister, Vytenis Andriukaitis, in charge of steering the bill through the EU institutions under his country's EU presidency, rang the alarm bell at a press conference in Vilnius on Wednesday (11 September).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

He noted that MEPs recently postponed a vote on the law from this week until October, making it harder for Lithuania to clinch a final agreement before its EU chairmanship ends in December.

"This was [due to] direct meetings between hired lobbyists and certain MEPs. As many as 233 meetings with tobacco industry lobbyists were organised in the past 17 months. Around 31 percent of members of the parliament were affected by lobbyists in one or another way,” he said.

He noted the lobbying effort was directed at MEPs from tobacco-growing southern countries.

He said the delay "is a big breakthrough" for the tobacco sector because the Greek EU presidency, which takes over in January and which is more tobacco friendly, might inherit the file.

Speaking at a separate event in New Delhi, India, also on Wednesday, the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Margaret Chan, voiced similar concerns.

Chan spoke of a "massive army" of lobbyists which is fighting WHO policy around the world, AFP reports.

"The most recent example concerns efforts on the part of [tobacco firm] Philip Morris to sabotage the vote on a strong European directive on tobacco," she said at a forum organised by an Indian NGO, the Public Health Foundation of India.

She added that Greece' integrity is at stake because Philip Morris is currently opening a new distribution facility in the cash-strapped country.

"Here industry is counting on the historical pattern where economic and commercial interests trump public health concerns," Chan said.

The EU's revised tobacco products directive (TPD) aims to ban flavoured and slim cigarettes and to impose stricter rules for health warnings on packaging, among other measures.

British weekly The Observer on Sunday reported that Philip Morris has hired 161 people in Brussels and spent millions of euros trying to fight the bill.

Previous research by Corporate Europe Observatory, a Brussels-based NGO, found that nine tobacco firms, 22 tobacco industry lobby groups and 12 PR firms are involved in the wrecking campaign.

The TPD was already delayed due to a scandal surrounding former EU health commissioner John Dalli.

Dalli, who drafted the bill, last year lost his post amid allegations that he solicited a bribe from a Swedish tobacco firm.

He denied the accusations and was later cleared by Maltese police.

He said the affair was orchestrated by the tobacco sector in order to buy time.

Tobacco lobbying derails MEP vote

Intense tobacco lobbying in Brussels may have derailed a key vote among Euro-deputies to restrict the sale and distribution of the product.

EU tobacco lobbying is 'David vs. Goliath'

The tobacco industry in Brussels spends over €5 million a year and employs around 100 lobbyists to influence EU legislation, says an anti-smoking group.

Opinion

Crunch time for EU lobby register

The EU lobby register is voluntary meaning it is filled with gaps and inaccuracies. The current review ought to change this.

MEPs approve disputed tobacco law

The EU parliament has backed rules to tighten marketing and labelling of tobacco products, but the original proposal was weakened.

Opinion

Turkey's election — the Erdoğan vs Kılıçdaroğlu showdown

Turkey goes to the polls in May for both a new parliament and new president, after incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan decided against a post-earthquake postponement. The parliamentary outcome is easy to predict — the presidential one less so.

Latest News

  1. EU leaders agree 1m artillery shells for Ukraine
  2. Polish abortion rights activist vows to appeal case
  3. How German business interests have shaped EU climate agenda
  4. The EU-Turkey migration deal is dead on arrival at this summit
  5. Sweden worried by EU visa-free deal with Venezuela
  6. Spain denies any responsibility in Melilla migrant deaths
  7. How much can we trust Russian opinion polls on the war?
  8. Banning PFAS 'forever chemicals' may take forever in Brussels

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality
  5. Promote UkraineInvitation to the National Demonstration in solidarity with Ukraine on 25.02.2023
  6. Azerbaijan Embassy9th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and 1st Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us