MEPs Declared 400+ Tobacco Lobby Meetings in Two Years, Four Times the Previous Term
Members of the European Parliament have declared more than 400 meetings with tobacco and nicotine industry representatives since the current parliamentary term began in the summer of 2024 — about four times the roughly 100 meetings declared across the entire 2019-2024 term, according to an analysis by POLITICO of the Parliament's transparency disclosures.
Philip Morris International accounted for at least 178 of the meetings, followed by British American Tobacco with 60, the analysis found. About 75% of the meetings involved lawmakers from three right-leaning political groups.
The meetings covered the ground on which the industry's future in Europe is being rewritten: proposed revisions to EU tobacco product and advertising rules, minimum taxes on tobacco and nicotine products, and public health initiatives. The surge comes as the European Commission prepares its legislative proposals on tobacco and nicotine later this year, with bans on disposables, nicotine pouches and flavoured products among the options under consideration.
Public health advocates criticised the scale of industry access to lawmakers. The Smoke Free Partnership said the data showed intensified lobbying around key policy initiatives, while cautioning that meetings alone do not establish direct influence on legislative decisions.
Industry representatives defended the engagement as a legitimate part of the legislative process. Under Parliament rules, meetings with lobbyists are logged in a public transparency register that tracks when MEPs meet registered industry organisations and companies.
The disclosure data has drawn attention to the balance of access in the rulemaking: with the tobacco and nicotine sector among the most heavily lobbied files in Brussels, and with annual industry lobbying spend in the EU estimated at roughly €8 million, the pace of MEP meetings is now itself becoming part of the debate over how the bloc writes its next generation of nicotine rules.
[Reference]
- Tobacco Reporter (original report) — https://tobaccoreporter.com/2026/10/27/analysis-shows-increased-mep-engagement-with-industry-lobbyists
- POLITICO analysis — https://www.politico.eu/article/tobacco-lobby-steps-up-brussels-push-as-eu-rewrites-rules/
- Brussels Morning coverage — https://brusselsmorning.com/eu-meps-face-400-tobacco-lobbying-calls-in-2026-brussels/106078/
- Euronews (lobbying spend context) — https://www.euronews.com/2026/08/20/hundreds-of-meetings-8-million-a-year-how-big-tobacco-lobbies-the-eu