The European Commission has crossed a line: it’s now official policy to claim that new nicotine products carry health risks “comparable to smoking”. Commissioner Varhelyi confirmed this in a written answer to a question from Members of Parliament. Ignoring years of research and millions of personal stories, the Commission now wants to treat vaping and smoking as equally dangerous. Not only is this untrue, it’s a slap in the face for public health and for smokers looking for safer options.

Scientific evidence has shown for years that vaping and other new nicotine products are much less harmful than cigarettes. Sweden is nearly smoke-free because it embraced harm reduction. The Czech Republic and Greece slashed their smoking rates by introducing harm reduction strategies. These countries save lives because they follow what works, not ideology.

The Commission is ignoring this success to please anti-vaping groups and win easy headlines. By making misinformation the official line, they are misleading smokers, former smokers, and anyone trying to quit. Instead of encouraging people to switch from deadly cigarettes to less risky products, these politicians push outdated myths and scare tactics.

This is not a small mistake. By equating vaping with smoking, the EU’s new policy will keep more people smoking, making quitting harder and costing lives. The Commission chose ideology over science. Smokers deserve facts and real options, not more confusion. Europe should learn from Sweden, the Czech Republic, and Greece instead of ignoring their achievements.

Currently, the European Commission is running a consultation on the revision of the Tobacco Excise Directive (TED). However, the Commission’s position is already clear and unambiguous, as confirmed in this answer to Members of the European Parliament. The Commission treats new nicotine products the same as traditional tobacco products in terms of health risks and taxation. So why hold a consultation at all if the outcome is already decided?

This is not genuine democracy or transparent governance. It shows that the Commission sees public consultations, and therefore citizens’ opinions, as little more than a “Feigenblatt,” a fig leaf to give the appearance of participation without actually influencing policy. Consultations should be tools for meaningful engagement and better policymaking, not a box-ticking exercise to justify preset decisions.

The Commission’s whole approach to tobacco and nicotine policy is a mess that ignores science, disregards successful harm reduction strategies in Europe, and dismisses public and expert input before consultations even begin. This top-down method must be changed from top to bottom. Policymaking must become genuinely inclusive, transparent, and evidence-based to rebuild trust and protect public health.

Without true engagement and respect for evidence, the Commission risks alienating smokers, vapers, and stakeholders it claims to serve. A real democracy listens to its citizens, especially on issues as critical as health. The Commission’s current tobacco and nicotine policy process fails this basic test.