EU Budget Talks Add Another Obstacle for Tobacco Tax Reform (1)

Negotiations over funding for the EU’s upcoming seven-year budget could sour member states’ willingness to overhaul a controversial bill that would raise tobacco taxes across the bloc.

The European Commission’s proposal in its budget allowing the body to take a share of tobacco tax collected by EU governments would draw too much revenue away for countries to see the benefit of negotiating tobacco tax reform further, according to people involved in the debate.

The budget provision “will be used as one more argument” by countries who oppose the bill, said Lilia Olefir, director of Smoke Free Partnership, a ...