{"id":8487,"date":"2026-06-23T20:34:39","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T17:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/?p=8487"},"modified":"2026-06-23T20:34:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T17:34:39","slug":"philip-morris-urges-eu-to-treat-tobacco-as-legal-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/philip-morris-urges-eu-to-treat-tobacco-as-legal-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Philip Morris Urges EU to Treat Tobacco as Legal Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"brusselssignal.eu\"
Photo: brusselssignal.eu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The American tobacco giant made its case in a letter sent months ago to von der Leyen, which has now been published on LinkedIn by Massimo Andolina<\/strong>, the company’s President for Europe, according to Brussels Signal<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In the letter, Philip Morris argues that Brussels has subjected the tobacco sector to discriminatory regulation driven by ideological bias rather than evidence-based policymaking.<\/p>\n

Andolina emphasizes the industry’s deep economic footprint across the continent, noting that it sustains more than two million jobs, delivers \u20ac180 billion in annual tax revenue, and operates a European value chain that surpasses both the textile and telecommunications industries combined.<\/p>\n

The company is positioning itself as a leader in harm reduction, investing heavily in smoke-free alternatives such as heated tobacco and nicotine products. Philip Morris contends that the upcoming reviews of the Tobacco Excise Directive and Tobacco Products Directive will determine whether Europe can maintain investment, innovation, and global competitiveness in this evolving sector.<\/p>\n

The letter demands what it calls inclusiveness, transparency, evidence and fairness<\/em> in regulatory treatment, rather than the ongoing marginalization of a lawful industry.<\/p>\n

Brussels Signal<\/em> reports that the European Commission did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Public Health vs. Economic Reality<\/h2>\n

Critics of the industry point to World Health Organization data showing that tobacco-related products kill more than 700,000 Europeans annually, arguing that heightened regulation is a matter of public health necessity, not discrimination.<\/p>\n

But the industry counters that Brussels’ punitive approach has proven counterproductive. Rather than reducing harm, aggressive taxation and restrictive policies have fueled black market expansion and increased organized crime involvement in tobacco smuggling.<\/p>\n

Philip Morris and other major players in the sector argue that harm-reduction strategies, backed by measurable scientific outcomes, offer a more effective path forward than prohibition-style regulation.<\/p>\n

Brussels Digs In<\/h2>\n

Despite the industry’s outreach, the European Commission shows no sign of softening its stance. EU policymakers continue to isolate the tobacco sector from normal regulatory channels and appear committed to further taxation and restriction.<\/p>\n

The Commission is currently preparing major overhauls of both tobacco taxation frameworks and product standards, decisions that will shape the industry’s future across the bloc for years to come.<\/p>\n

Philip Morris has framed itself as a willing partner in public health improvement, but Brussels remains unconvinced, maintaining a hardline posture that treats all tobacco companies as uniformly harmful regardless of product innovation or harm-reduction efforts.<\/p>\n

With information from Brussels Signal<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Philip Morris International has urged EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to end discriminatory treatment of the tobacco industry and grant it regulatory parity with other legal sectors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":8486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[159,7901,7898,7900,7899,473],"nfg_topic":[134],"class_list":["post-8487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-european-union","tag-massimo-andolina","tag-philip-morris","tag-tax-policy","tag-tobacco-regulation","tag-ursula-von-der-leyen","nfg_topic-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8487"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8488,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8487\/revisions\/8488"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8487"},{"taxonomy":"nfg_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nfg_topic?post=8487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}