• March 29, 2024

Ombudsman examining tobacco lobby

 Ombudsman examining tobacco lobby

The European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, is due to host an event to discuss ‘Improving transparency in tobacco lobbying’.

The event will be held in the Résidence Palace, Brussels from 13.30 to 15.30 on April 27. A networking buffet will start at 12.00.

A note announcing the meeting said that O’Reilly was dedicated to improving further the standards of transparency and ethical decision-making in EU institutions. A major part of her work touched on lobbying: how it was carried out and who it targeted.

‘Within the lobbying world, tobacco products occupy a special place,’ the note said. ‘As consumer products, they alone have an international treaty dedicated to curbing their effects on public health (UN FCTC).

‘The Ombudsman recently found that the European Commission’s approach to publicising meetings with tobacco lobbyists is, with the exception of DG Health, inadequate.

‘Is this good enough for an EU institution whose role it is to initiate EU legislation? What are the potential public health benefits of transparent tobacco lobbying? Are policy-makers sufficiently aware of the tactics used by the tobacco industry to further its interests? How would lobbying transparency increase public trust in the EU institutions?

Apart from O’Reilly, the speakers will be Vytenis Andriukaitis, the European Commissioner for Health; Giovanni La Via, chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety; Roberto Bertollini, chief scientist and World Health Organization representative to the EU; and Anna Gilmore, Professor of Public Health, University of Bath, UK. The moderator will be James Crisp, news editor, EurActiv.