Introducing sector-specific lobbying restrictions would raise “serious constitutional and institutional concerns,” MEP Loránt Vincze, the European People’s Party coordinator in the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, told POLITICO.
The decision is a win for the tobacco industry, which is given the same access to lawmakers as any other in Brussels. It also comes as Europe seeks to clamp down more on the sector in several pieces of legislation, from tobacco tax to the sale of nicotine products.
Left-wing MEPs leading the charge for tighter tobacco restrictions asked the committee to consider a change to the rules on lobbying for tobacco representatives, citing excessive industry influence. Political groups’ coordinators decided against acting on the request in a meeting on Wednesday.
Casares blamed a “pro-tobacco alliance between the EPP and the far right” for defending the the industry’s interests over public health.
“This is not just about resisting reform; it is about undermining efforts to protect the next generation,” he told POLITICO.
Metz warned that when the Tobacco Products Directive is revised, there will be “questions around transparency, conflicts of interest and the integrity of the policymaking process.”