The Dutch Health Minister has called for an EU-wide ban on vapes and pouches to be brought forward this year, in a letter to EU Health Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi seen by Clearing the Air and first scooped by EurActiv.
The letter comes just days after the EU Commissioner for Tax – Wopke Hoekstra – wrongly told a Parliamentary Committee that “vaping kills” in response to a question from the floor. Hoekstra did not mention tobacco initiatives in his opening presentation, indicating that tobacco excise is not a priority for the Commission.
Minister Vincent Karremens – who is from the same VVD party that Hoekstra hails from – wants to see legislation proposed this year that would “include comprehensive restrictions on flavours, maximum nicotine levels and plain packaging”.
The Minister also wants to make it easier to ban nicotine products Europe-wide, arguing for “fast response tools [which] could empower us to act more proactively”. Finally, he argues that the Commission should “take action in collaboration with social media platforms in order to pro-actively remove content from their platforms” which promotes nicotine-containing products.
Tobacco Directive delay?
The letter comes after the Commission 2025 Work Plan, published last week, made no mention of any intention to propose tobacco legislation this year. Insiders we spoke to believe that Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is lukewarm on making any changes to tobacco legislation any time soon.
In response to a written question from Belgian MEP Saskia Bricmont, Várhelyi was non-committal about whether tobacco legislation would be reviewed this year, only going so far as to say that the Commission was evaluating the current regulation and that future steps “will depend on its findings”.
Any changes that are proposed to EU rules on safer nicotine products would have to be agreed by the European Parliament; but this is far from certain. MEPs rejected a non-binding recommendation banning vaping in indoor and outdoor public places last year, and there are a number of pro harm-reduction members of the European Parliament wary of starting a fight with vapers.
