{"id":26177,"date":"2025-08-28T09:19:27","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T09:19:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/?p=26177"},"modified":"2025-08-28T09:19:31","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T09:19:31","slug":"eu-tax-plan-would-make-smoke-free-2040-target-practically-impossible-warns-harm-reduction-advocate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/post\/eu-tax-plan-would-make-smoke-free-2040-target-practically-impossible-warns-harm-reduction-advocate\/","title":{"rendered":"EU tax plan would make smoke-free 2040 target \u201cpractically impossible,\u201d warns harm reduction advocate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The European Union (EU) is facing a mounting backlash over proposals to impose sweeping new bloc-wide taxes on safer nicotine products.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advocates warn the measures would undermine public health goals, drive people back to smoking, and ignore scientific evidence on tobacco harm reduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The European Commission\u2019s revision of the Tobacco Excise Directive, published in July, sets out minimum taxes of 40 percent on vaping e-liquids, 50 percent on nicotine pouches, and an unprecedented 55 percent on sticks for heated tobacco products. Countries would remain free to set even higher rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe proposals will make an already ambitious target practically impossible to reach,\u201d said Damian Sweeney of European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (ETHRA). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EU has pledged to achieve \u201csmoke-free\u201d status, defined as a smoking rate below five percent, by 2040. But with 24 percent of adults still smoking and nearly 700,000 annual smoking-related deaths, experts already doubt the timeline. Some analyses suggest the target won\u2019t be reached until 2100<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Removing the incentive to switch from smoking<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sweeney and other advocates argue that heavy taxes on safer nicotine products will worsen the situation by removing the incentive for smokers to switch to safer alternatives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a letter to the EU, ETHRA warned that the proposals would \u201cdisincentivise\u201d switching and risk pushing people back to cigarettes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the Commission is simultaneously seeking a 139 percent increase in cigarette taxes. While higher cigarette taxes can encourage quitting, harm reduction advocates say parallel hikes on safer alternatives blunt the impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLower-risk nicotine products are already unaffordable to many, which limits the possibility of encouraging smokers to switch,\u201d said Adriana Curado, a harm reduction expert and researcher in Lisbon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reservations from member states<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Portugal recently formally stated<\/a> it had \u201creservations\u201d about the plan, emphasising that \u201cless harmful forms of smoking [sic] should be subject to lower taxes to encourage smokers to switch.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other member states<\/a> including Greece, Italy, Romania and Sweden have also voiced objections. Sweden<\/a>, which is on the brink of achieving smoke-free status thanks to widespread use of snus and nicotine pouches, has described the proposal as \u201ccompletely unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opponents are also alarmed by the messaging used to justify the tax hikes. European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare Oliver Varhelyi<\/a> recently claimed that new nicotine products pose health risks \u201ccomparable to traditional ones.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cUnfortunately, and probably in order to justify the \u2018tax-raid\u2019 on tobacco harm reduction products, EU officials have publicly released statements that the risks from these products are comparable to tobacco cigarettes,\u201d said Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos, a cardiologist and researcher in Greece. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is concerning that such communications not only depart from the principle of evidence-based public health policies, but also contribute to the widespread misperceptions that already exist among citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prioritising revenue over health<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

With the Commission also proposing to divert 15 percent of tobacco tax revenues directly to the EU budget – potentially providing one fifth of its income – critics suggest the bloc is prioritising revenue over health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposal faces a long road before it can become law. It would need approval from both the EU Council and Parliament, as well as unanimous support from all 27 member states. Votes are not expected before 2027. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, Sweeney is clear that the stakes could not be higher. \u201cThe proposals will make an already ambitious target practically impossible to reach,\u201d he said, stressing that the EU must instead promote widespread access to safer nicotine products if it wants to save lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The European Union (EU) is facing a mounting backlash over proposals to impose sweeping new bloc-wide taxes on safer nicotine products. Advocates warn the measures would undermine public health goals, drive people back to smoking, and ignore scientific evidence on tobacco harm…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":990002,"featured_media":26178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[257],"tags":[329,330,186,352,333],"slider":[],"class_list":["post-26177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-european-union","tag-italy","tag-nicotine","tag-portugal","tag-sweden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/990002"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26184,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26177\/revisions\/26184"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26177"},{"taxonomy":"slider","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/slider?post=26177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}