French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has promised to freeze tobacco taxes and end automatic inflation-linked price increases, siding with French tobacconists as European Union governments continue negotiating a sweeping overhaul of tobacco and nicotine excise rules.
The Rassemblement National candidate pledged in an open letter to French tobacconists published Sept. 6 and republished the following day by RN politician Nicolas Dragon. Le Pen said repeated price increases encourage cross-border purchases and tobacco trafficking, and promised to seek EU-level action against what she called unfair competition.
Le Pen also promised tougher enforcement against illegal tobacco sellers and stronger powers for local police. Her letter claims nearly half of cigarettes consumed in France now bypass the legal retail network. That figure is Le Pen's assertion and is not independently established by the official sources reviewed for this article.
France already tightly controls legal tobacco sales, while allowing adults to bring tobacco purchased in another EU member state into the country for personal use. French Customs updated its tobacco-tax rules in July, with the current circular effective from Jan. 1, 2026.
The timing also puts Le Pen's intervention inside a much larger EU tax fight. The European Commission's proposed Tobacco Taxation Directive overhaul would raise minimum excise rates on traditional tobacco and, for the first time, create EU-wide minimum taxes for e-cigarette liquid, nicotine pouches, and other nicotine products.
The proposal has faced substantial political resistance. The European Parliament rejected the Commission text in June, 439-181, with 38 abstentions, although Parliament's role in this tax procedure is consultative. The legislative file remains open and awaiting a final decision, and EU Council officials continue working on the package.
Le Pen's letter directly extends her pitch beyond cigarettes. "On vaping and new products," she wrote, France needs rules that are stable, clear, and pragmatic, with tobacconists involved in decisions affecting their businesses.
That puts her tobacco-tax pledge alongside a broader dispute over whether the EU should harmonize taxes on lower-risk nicotine products with those imposed on cigarettes. For vapers and nicotine-pouch users, the outcome of the EU negotiations could matter far more than France's cigarette-tax fight alone.
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