Marisol Touraine calls for a 10 euro pack of cigarettes

A price rise to combat smoking

The French health minister has come out in favour of a dramatic rise in the price of cigarettes before the end of the presidential term. The last increase dates from January 2014, taking the cheapest pack to 6.5 euros and the Marlboro pack, the best-selling brand, to 7 euros.

She now wants “a strong and significant increase” in the price of a pack, according to her remarks on the Grand Jury programme on RTL, Le Figaro and LCI on Sunday 21 February. The plain pack, due to be introduced on 20 March, will be only one step in the fight against smoking; the price of tobacco should be another. In her view, it is a lever that works to bring down the number of smokers.

“I want a strong and significant increase in the price of tobacco as soon as possible.”

Marisol Touraine, French health minister

A rise in cigarette prices, a measure that divides opinion

The measure does not, however, appear to be on the agenda for this presidential term. Last October, members of parliament had already rejected any increase in the price of tobacco, so as not to further anger tobacconists, already incensed by the introduction of the plain pack. The minister is nonetheless in line with the recommendations made by the Cour des comptes, the French public audit office, in its latest annual report; according to the institution, “a policy of sustained price increases” is needed to “bring about an effective and lasting fall in consumption”. Reactions to these remarks were not slow in coming. For Pascal Montredon, president of the tobacconists’ confederation, such a measure would spell the end of their trade. In his view, the risk is also that a significant share of consumption would escape any oversight. But for Bertrand Dautzenberg, president of the French office for the prevention of smoking, a “price increase of at least 10% is the only truly effective measure” for reducing consumption.

Better pay for doctors involved in the fight against smoking

The health minister also wants to see “doctors strongly committed to the fight against tobacco” recognised; in her view, a doctor who works to help patients stop smoking should be paid for it, notably through additional payments granted directly by the national health insurance fund. It is one possible example of the increase in doctors’ remuneration, a point on which negotiations open next Wednesday. According to the minister, those negotiations should last several months, but she hopes to see them concluded “around the summer”.