Background:
The active phase of policymaking to strengthen tobacco legislation in the EU has been marked by a surge in tobacco industry lobbying, which has led to delays in releasing and adopting new legislation.

Objectives:
This panel aims to investigate the size and scope of tobacco industry interference at the EU level during 2019-2022. Monitoring and analyzing industry interference allows us to raise awareness about industry lobbying among EU and national decision-makers through publications in traditional and social media. Using Art. 5.3 FCTC and the EU Transparency Register to restart the revision of the EU Tobacco Tax, Products, and Advertising Directives should be prioritized by tobacco control advocacy groups.

Methods:
Since 2015 the SFP systematically tracks meetings between tobacco industry representatives and EU policymakers in the Commission and Parliament using the EU Transparency Register, which includes publicly available information reported by registered entities. While it has its limitations (i.e., MEPs not declaring some of the meetings held with the industry, and a lack of accountability), the Register offers data on the funds spent by the industry on lobbying, the number of lobbyists and consultancies employed, and the number of meetings. The SFP’s systematic approach results in a comprehensive understanding of the size of the tobacco industry interference in Europe.

Results:
Between 2019 and 2022 (the latest available year in the EU Transparency Register), the industry spent nearly €60 million on lobbying activities at the EU level. This resulted in 100 meetings during 2019 – 2024 between tobacco industry representatives and 39 MEPs, 29 of whom have been re-elected in 2024.

Conclusions:
By uncovering the “smoke and mirrors” of the tobacco industry, this discussion seeks to unpack best practices for monitoring and exposing the tobacco industry’s interference in the policymaking process to restart the revisions of key EU tobacco control directives.