Relevant and sensitive information concerning the tobacco directive and industry was stolen in targeted thefts from office of anti-smoking agencies in Brussels, Javier Delgado Riviera of the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) has told AFP.
The news agency was reporting on the resignation of John Dalli from his resignation from the post of European Commission, days before he was due to present a new Tobacco Directive.
"A shady Maltese lobbyist, Sweden's substitute for snuff, robberies against anti-smoking groups: the resignation of the EU's top health official in a tobacco-linked "whodunnit" is shaking up Brussels," the agency says.
It noted that the European Commission has promised that Mr Dalli's resignation would not slow, or kill, key tobacco legislation drafted by his services in the interests of public health.
"The review of the Tobacco Products Directive is on the commission's agenda for this year," said European Commission spokesman Olivier Bailly. "As soon as we have a new commissioner he will be able to proceed."
But anti-tobacco groups see Dalli's almost unprecedented resignation from the commission as the latest hitch in months of efforts to review the European Union's decade-old legislation on tobacco.
"The long wait for Commission proposals on tobacco products is becoming a never-ending story," said Matthias Groote of the Smoke Free Partnership (SFP).
"This important legislation has been delayed time and time again."
The SFP is one of two anti-smoking groups whose Brussels offices were broken into by intruders last week.
"There was relevant and sensitive information stolen concerning the tobacco directive and industry," said Javier Delgado Riviera of the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA), the other target.
AFP points out that Dalli's proposals aimed to make cigarette packaging less attractive while tightening regulations on flavourings in cigarettes as well as on smoke-free products, such as snuff (snus) and electronic cigarettes.
Corruption watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory said the case should serve as a wake-up call to the commission to tighten up rules on lobbying.
"The European Commission is the focus of intense lobbying, and many business lobbyists benefit from easy access and close contact," it said. "This opens the door to the potential for corruption."