WVS NEWS: EU Tobacco Tax Plan Stirs Debate on Nicotine Alternatives
Most European Union member states have yet to issue official statements on the proposed Tobacco Excise Directive (TED), but some have already pushed back and warned the measures could undermine national sovereignty and damage local industries.
This month, Portugal became the latest country to join Germany, Sweden, and Hungary in expressing reservations about new EU-level taxes. The Portuguese government particularly voiced concerns about taxing both combustible cigarettes and new generation products in the same way, which would not create a real incentive to use less harmful products.
Portugal also expressed concerns about the tendency of increased taxation to result in more illicit trade, which is already happening in several countries that have followed this option. The government said it will assess, within the scope of the Multiannual Financial Framework negotiations, the allocation of part of the revenues from the tax increase to the Union budget.
EU proposal sends ‘the wrong signal’
Last month, the Commission presented a proposal for a recast of the TED. The revised TED would expand the directive’s scope to include e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products and nicotine pouches, all of which would be subject to minimum taxes. It would also more than double excise duties on traditional cigarettes.
The proposal forms part of a broader budgetary package intended to create new EU own resources. Within just a few hours, it had already provoked significant backlash from several influential member states – including Germany, Sweden and Hungary.
Swedish health minister Elisabeth Svantesson harshly criticised the EU plan. “Unfortunately, it is bad, just as the leaks have shown,” she wrote on X. Svantesson opposed harmonised minimum rates on nicotine pouches, which are envisaged in the proposal for a revision.
Germany, too, has voiced opposition. Finance minister Lars Klingbeil said during the G20 meeting of finance ministers in South Africa this month that Berlin “cannot support” the proposal, arguing it sends “the wrong signal” and aligns poorly with national priorities. Meanwhile, Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government spokesperson, Stefan Kornelius, deemed the broader EU budget package “unacceptable”, especially at a time when many countries are struggling to rein in spending. Germany has also criticised the EU’s proposal to redirect 15% of the revenue collected from member states on tobacco taxes to fund the EU budget.
Likewise, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán called the draft “a budget of hopelessness that would destroy the EU”, warning that, in his view, it “will not survive”.
In Italy, members of the governing coalition echoed similar concerns. Raffaele Nevi, vice-president of the centre-right Forza Italia group in the Chamber of Deputies, warned that the tax would negatively impact Italian tobacco growers and the manufacturing industry. These views are consistent with past opposition expressed by other political exponents and officials from the Emilia-Romagna regional government.
Health commissioner’s statements questioned
Recent statements from European commissioner for health and animal welfare Olivér Várhelyi in which he said that “for the first time, we acknowledge that new tobacco and nicotine products pose health risks comparable to traditional ones” provoked a parliamentary question from members of the European Parliament (MEPs) Charlie Weimers, Beatrice Timgren and Dick Erixon, from the European Conservatives and Reformists Group. The MEPs asked the European Commission (EC) whether these statements, which Várhelyi issued when he welcomed the TED proposal, represent the official position of the EC or they convey the commissioner’s personal opinion.
The MEPs also ask what studies or scientific data the statement is based on, and which nicotine products the EC considers to be “new”.
Recently, ECigIntelligence understood from sources close to the Commission that the EC is on track to review the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) and the Tobacco Advertising Directive after several delays. According to a document released in March this year by the EC’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG-Santé), the review is expected by the second quarter of 2026. The directive’s last update occurred over a decade ago.
– Antonia Di Lorenzo ECigIntelligence staff
Image: AI-generated
