Moves to boost minimum taxes on cigarettes across Europe will help curb the smuggling of tobacco into Ireland and Britain, the European Commission said tonight.
Brussels is proposing a new higher minimum rate of excise duty on tobacco, partly to help discourage smokers and partly to close the current wide gap between national rates.
If the scheme is approved by EU finance ministers, it will mean higher cigarette prices in five member states - Spain, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Luxembourg - and less incentive for people to cross the channel to load up with cheaper tobacco on the Continent.
"A survey in Britain recently showed that 40 per cent of discarded cigarette packs retrieved from football matches were clearly marked as having been imported - in other words, bought cheaply on the Continent," said a Commission spokesman.
"This means the UK Treasury is losing revenue. We are doing something about that now by proposing measures to rectify market distortions caused by different excise duty regimes.
"What we are suggesting will bring other tax rates closer to the high British level."
Under current EU rules introduced in 1993, cigarette excise duty must comprise at least 57 per cent of the total retail price of a packet.
But the commission says that, on its own, the fixed minimum has not prevented continued wide differences in rates and retail prices.