Members of the European Parliament have held four times as many meetings with tobacco and nicotine lobbyists in the past two years as during the whole of the previous parliamentary term, according to data analysed by Politico Europe. MEPs have declared more than 400 such meetings since taking office in summer 2024, against roughly 100 between 2019 and 2024, based on transparency register figures compiled by the Smoke Free Partnership, a coalition of NGOs.
About three quarters of the meetings involved MEPs from the centre-right European People's Party, the European Conservatives and Reformists and the far-right Patriots for Europe. The rise comes as the EU prepares to overhaul several major tobacco and nicotine laws and works on plans against heart disease and cancer. Green MEP Tilly Metz called the level of access shocking, while British American Tobacco and other firms said they had done nothing wrong.
Source: Politico Europe