An Irish member of the European Parliament (MEP), Avril Doyle, has called for legislation to make it illegal to sell cigarettes and cigars within the European Union by 2025.

Doyle is the leader of the Irish faction within the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) which recently organised a conference aimed at developing ways of complying with the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Article 5.3. This obliges every country which has signed to outlaw lobbying by tobacco companies on any public health policies. Effectively this means that politicians will cease to talk to tobacco companies or their lobbyists on public health issues of any kind.
Meanwhile, the European Commission continues to drive its plan to raise tobacco taxes throughout the 27-nation bloc and with its plan to try and harmonise tobacco taxes across Europe in an effort to discourage smuggling. (pi)