WVA Launches“Smoke-Free Europe” Campaign As The European Parliament Calls For Crackdown On Nicotine Products

(MENAFN- GlobeNewsWire - Nasdaq) BRUSSELS, Nov. 12, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- This morning the World Vapers' Alliance (WVA) launched its One Goal, Many Paths – Smoke-Free Europe campaign outside the European Parliament. The consumer group filled the street with foam bubbles to symbolise the“Brussels Bubble”: an EU policy world that has stopped listening to the millions of adults who quit smoking with less harmful alternatives. Moments later, MEPs adopted the report on the implementation of Europe's Beating Cancer Plan, which proved the point.

Alberto Gómez Hernández, Policy Manager of the World Vapers' Alliance, said: “We came to Parliament this morning to show what the Brussels Bubble looks like: shiny on the inside, deaf to the outside. A few hours later, MEPs showed it to us. More than 100,000 Europeans signed our petition against flavour bans and punitive taxes on nicotine alternatives, and many more asked for the same in public consultations. Yet politicians keep ignoring them.”

The report calls for the revised Tobacco Products Directive to cover“all tobacco and nicotine products”, with flavour restrictions, plain packaging and higher minimum excise duties among the cited measures. It does not acknowledge that these products differ in risk, although Parliament's own cardiovascular report in September recognised that different nicotine products“may therefore have differentiated risk profiles”.

“Millions of Europeans have left cigarettes behind thanks to vapes, pouches and heated tobacco, but regulators keep ignoring them. If Brussels wants a smoke-free Europe, it has to start by listening to the people who actually got there. Otherwise, the smoke-free goal will never be achieved,” Gómez Hernández added.

As the Commission prepares the revision of the Tobacco Products Directive, the WVA will keep pressing EU institutions and Member States for regulation based on relative risk.

Press contact: Alberto Gómez Hernández, Policy Manager, World Vapers' Alliance.
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+34 651906467

About the World Vapers' Alliance: The World Vapers' Alliance is a consumer organisation that amplifies the voices of vapers worldwide and advocates for sensible harm reduction policies that help smokers quit and save lives.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at

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