Brussels is planning the largest-ever tax increases on cigarettes and tobacco products in Europe, provoking a strong reaction from Athens and Greece’s Minister of National Economy, Kyriakos Pierrakakis.

According to the draft directive discussed on Friday at the Ecofin Council, promoted by the European Commission and a bloc of mainly Northern European countries (led by France and the Netherlands), it is proposed that the excise duty be increased by 139%, to €215 per 1,000 cigarettes, up from the current €90.

This means that the final retail price of a 20-cigarette pack, which in Greece currently averages around €4.60 (of which €3.74, or 81.3%, are taxes), could reach or exceed €7, unless tobacco companies absorb part of the increase.

What would this mean?

A regular smoker who buys one pack per day would see their monthly spending rise from about €140 (€4.60 × 30 days) to over €210 (€7 × 30 days).

Annually, the cost would reach or even exceed €800 more per year — roughly the equivalent of a full monthly pension for an average Greek retiree.

Even occasional smokers would feel the impact if the price per pack rises by €2–3, roughly the price of a traditional “comfort coffee.”

Pierrakakis’ intervention

Greece reacted immediately once the issue reached the EU Council of Finance Ministers. “When we increase taxes excessively, smuggling also increases,” stressed the Greek Minister of Finance, signaling that the “battle” over cigarette taxation has just begun.

In his remarks at Ecofin, Kyriakos Pierrakakis underlined that “public health is a fundamental, existential priority.” However, he sought to cool down the pressure from France, the Netherlands, and other states, expressing reservations about a sharp and excessive increase in tobacco taxation:

“According to our experience in Greece, and taking into account our geographic position, we have observed in the past that asymmetric tax hikes lead to a measurable rise in smuggling,” said the minister.

He continued:

“At the same time, if prices for both traditional and innovative products rise too sharply, beyond what the market can bear, we must consider the impact on competitiveness — which affects investment and exports. Therefore, we should take all this into account. Perhaps we could explore broader transition periods in implementing these measures, to achieve the objective without disrupting the market.”

Pierrakakis at the Eurogroup

Athens is therefore proposing a long adjustment period for implementing the new Tobacco Excise Directive. Beyond lost revenue and the risk of increased smuggling, Greece’s arguments also cite the potential loss of competitiveness for the European economy at a sensitive moment, given the impact of Trump’s tariffs.

With this stance, Pierrakakis appeared to align with and rally support from other Southern European countries, notably Italy and Romania, which also oppose such sweeping tax increases on tobacco products.

The plan for these drastic hikes had already been revealed in June by Proto Thema, which obtained an internal European Commission document outlining the main pillars of the upcoming “tax offensive” on tobacco.

That document also revealed something else: beyond the public health justification, Brussels proposes that excise duties should no longer constitute national revenues but European ones.

This means the dispute will likely drag on for some time, and if no broad compromise is reached, it could even lead to a veto from countries like Greece that oppose the measure.