The EU’s Green Deal is a package of policy proposals introduced in 2019 by the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The aim of the package, which President von der Leyen described as “Europe’s man on the Moon moment” is making Europe the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050, decoupling economic growth from resource use, while ensuring that “no person and no place is left behind in the transition.”

Recently, lawmakers across the European Union have begun to take a great interest in tobacco products. While their motives might be sound, the policy approach they have adopted towards cigarettes is likely to be counter-productive. Politicians seem determined to take new steps to restrict the use, sale and advertising of tobacco products and directly limit the civil liberties of smokers.