Tobacco industry links with EU officials underreported, campaigners say

Dec 10 (Reuters) - ‌European Union officials have held multiple, undisclosed meetings with the tobacco industry, which uses political ‍connections to ‌try to influence policy in the bloc and beyond, a report by campaign groups published on Wednesday ⁠found.

The report, by anti-tobacco organisations STOP and Contre-Feu, ‌identified at least eight meetings between tobacco industry representatives and EU officials that were not disclosed in 2023 and 2024, citing documents obtained by Contre-Feu.

Further documents revealed a "close working relationship, including exchanges of information and advice, multiple emails, ongoing ⁠multi-year monitoring of issues and telephone calls", the report said, adding the findings demonstrate flaws in the EU's transparency framework. 

The report ​does not say the tobacco industry broke any rules, but it ‌accuses the European Commission of failing to implement ⁠a global treaty which, among other things, pledges to protect public health policies from tobacco-industry influence.

The Commission did not respond to requests for comment. 

The exchanges included representatives from companies such as Philip Morris ​International and British American Tobacco requesting the Commission push back on policies in other countries, including Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Mexico. 

"The European Union must commit to safeguarding its diplomatic influence ... from being exploited by the industry to challenge or undermine tobacco control measures implemented by other countries," said Cassandre Bigaignon, ​International and ‍European Advocacy Officer at Contre-Feu.

PMI and ​BAT did not immediately provide comments. 

In the documents, PMI and BAT asked the Commission to raise concerns about or push for the removal of policies affecting their products, arguing these violated trade agreements or discriminated against them while benefitting local rivals. 

PMI asked the Commission to intervene on bans of heated tobacco products or plans to tax them at the same rate as cigarettes. 

BAT, meanwhile, asked the EU to challenge a ⁠Saudi Arabian plan to raise tariffs on e-cigarettes to 100%. A Commission official ultimately refused because BAT's e-cigarettes are not made in the EU, though ​they noted the company had signalled it planned some EU production, emails show. 

The report also flagged 257 meetings between tobacco industry lobbyists and members of the European Parliament between 2023 and 2025. It said 49 organisations linked to the industry were actively lobbying EU rule makers, ‌with collective spending of 14 million euros ($16 million) per year.

The European Ombudsman in 2023 criticised the Commission for its handling of interactions with the tobacco industry.

($1 = 0.8601 euros)

(Reporting by Emma Rumney. Editing by Mark Potter)