{"id":455698,"date":"2026-06-04T11:53:45","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T09:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/06\/04\/lunione-europea-si-inceppa-sulla-tassazione-del-tabacco-di-nuovo\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T13:34:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T11:34:30","slug":"eu-hits-an-impasse-on-tobacco-taxation-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/06\/04\/eu-hits-an-impasse-on-tobacco-taxation-again\/","title":{"rendered":"EU hits an impasse on tobacco taxation. Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 The European directive on tobacco taxation took two steps in opposite directions yesterday (3 June): it was approved in a scaled-back form by the Committee on Economic Affairs<\/a> of the European Parliament, but was withdrawn from the Ecofin Council\u2019s agenda on the same day due to a lack of unanimity<\/strong>. Consequently, the economic ministers will not discuss the issue on 12 June, the day of the ministerial meeting, and the dossier will be handled by the Irish Presidency. The EU is therefore stalling once again on tobacco taxation,<\/span><\/span> confirming differing ideas and approaches. At the national level, differing views on the way forward persist<\/a> and are reflected at the EU level.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

The European Parliament\u2019s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs voted on its position regarding the tobacco taxation directive (TED) and adopted its recommendations with 32 votes in favour, 21 against, and 2 abstentions. The text softens the European Commission’s original proposal<\/a> on almost all fronts<\/strong>. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On cigarettes, Brussels had called for raising the minimum excise duties to 63 per cent of the retail price. MEPs, however, recommend keeping them at the current 60 per cent. The minimum threshold in euros drops from the Commission\u2019s proposal of \u20ac215 to \u20ac200 per 1,000 cigarettes, compared with the current \u20ac94. The changes are expected to come into force on 1 January 2028. For other products \u2013 e-cigarettes, heated tobacco, nicotine pouches and cigars \u2013 MEPs recommend lower rates and longer transition periods, which in some cases extend as far out as 2034. MEPs also recommend delaying the automatic indexation of excise duties to inflation from 2028 to 2036, limiting automatic adjustments to a maximum of 9 per cent. The vote in plenary is expected on 17 June<\/strong>. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The rapporteur for both texts, Tom\u00e1\u0161 Kub\u00edn<\/strong> (Patriots for Europe), defended the outcome: “My aim has been to support a modern and more coherent framework, while ensuring that the rules remain realistic, proportionate and enforceable. This is not about weakening the Commission\u2019s objectives. It is about making the directive enforceable in practice.<\/strong>” <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

According to Forza Italia MEP Marco Falcone<\/strong> (European People\u2019s Party), \u201cthe majority that has consolidated within the Commission has chosen an approach that takes into account the economic and social effects of the reform. This is why we have reinforced the principle of \u2018less risk, lower taxes\u2019, reducing taxation on innovative products compared to traditional cigarettes, thereby adopting a common-sense fiscal approach.” According to the MEP, the reform combines \u201chealth, legality, competitiveness, and job protection.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2025\/11\/20\/single-market-public-health-risk-of-illicit-trade-european-parliament-questions-eu-tobacco-tax-reform\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Of a different opinion is Cesar Luena<\/strong>, negotiator for the S&D Group (Socialists and Democrats), who considers the result \u201cdeeply damaging… for public health, for taxpayers, and for every European whose life could be saved by bolder action on tobacco.\u201d He added<\/a> that the reform of tobacco taxation is \u201clong overdue, as the current legislation dates to 2010. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make tobacco less affordable, protect people from nicotine addiction \u2013 especially youngsters \u2013 and secure greater public revenue. <\/span>The Commission\u2019s proposals were ambitious, but the EPP-far-right alliance stripped the reform of its purpose.”<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Kub\u00edn concluded his remarks following the vote in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, expressing hope that “the Parliament\u2019s progress will inspire the Council\u2019s work” and that an agreement will be reached soon. <\/span>Also yesterday, however, at a <\/strong><\/span>COREPER<\/strong><\/a><\/span> (Committee of Permanent Representatives of all Member States) meeting, the Cypriot Presidency announced that the dossier had been withdrawn from the Ecofin agenda due to a lack of unanimity among Member States<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Presidency reported that it had made “every possible effort” during bilateral consultations and working group meetings to find compromise solutions acceptable to all delegations. While Member States generally considered the text to be \u201cbalanced\u201d and appreciated the Presidency\u2019s efforts, not all delegations are currently in a position to lift their reservations. \u201cUnfortunately, despite our efforts over the last few months, it has not been possible at this stage to reach a consensus on this important dossier,\u201d said a spokesperson for the Cypriot presidency. The directive, in fact, requires unanimity in the Council, and a single country is enough to block it. The result is somewhat surprising, given that Member States have expressed scepticism about the Commission\u2019s proposal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday (3 June), the proposed directive had a difficult day: it was approved in a scaled-back form by the European Parliament\u2019s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, but was withdrawn from the Ecofin agenda on the same day due to a lack of unanimity<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7911,"featured_media":455646,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[30961,30805],"tags":[28074,26739,29011,33481,34320,33394],"class_list":["post-455698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-salute-en","category-industry-markets","tag-commissione-en","tag-parliament-en","tag-tabacco-en","tag-tassazione-tabacco","tag-ted","tag-ue"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7911"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455698"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":455699,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455698\/revisions\/455699"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}