MEPs urge EU commission to end Philip Morris deal

The European Parliament has called on the European Commission not to renew or extend its agreement with giant tobacco firm Philip Morris International (PMI).

Four hundred and fourteen MEPs voted against the deal in Strasbourg on Wednesday (9 March), 214 backed it and 66 abstained.

The tobacco accord, which is to expire in July, made the EU i and PMI into partners in the fight against cigarette smuggling. It was agreed 12 years ago and involved PMI payments of about €1 billion to the EU and member states.

On 24 February, the commission published its assessment of the deal.

It said it “effectively met its objective” but that changes in the market and legal framework cast doubts on its future relevance.

The parliament has no formal say in the matter. But in political terms, the commission would need strong reasons to defy the MEPs.

“The voice of parliament has to be heard now,” Spanish centre-left MEP Ines Ayala Sender i told this website after the vote.

She said that the parliament also asked the EU commission to find a way to substitute PMI’s anti-smuggling resources in the coming years.

PMI told this website, by e-mail, that “what matters most is that the supply chain control measures contained within the agreement are continued”.

“The ongoing debate continues to be focused on opposition among parties pro and against the renewal of the agreement, rather on pragmatic solutions to win the real fight against illicit trade in the EU,” it said.

Belgian Green MEP Bart Staes i said in a press release after the vote that it sent “a clear political message against renewing the PMI agreement”.

“This vote should serve as a shot across the bows to elements within the EU commission pushing for negotiations to begin,” he said.

The commissioner in charge of the PMI file, Kristalina Georgieva i, told this website in Strasbourg on Wednesday, before the EP i vote, that the commission is “very carefully listening to all arguments, from all stakeholders”.