EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg is confident the revised Tobacco Directive will be adopted under the current European Parliament, whose term expires in April.
The EP approved a watered-down version of the directive put forward by the Commission in a vote on Tuesday.
MEPs rejected a proposal for pictorial health warnings on tobacco products covering 75 per cent of the front and back of packs, opting instead for 65 per cent coverage.
Slim cigarettes, which health experts say are particularly attractive to young women, will not be banned.
E-cigarettes, which are marketed as a healthier alternative to cigarettes, will be regulated but not outlawed.
However, flavoured tobacco products will be banned along with packets containing fewer than 20 cigarettes.
Dr Borg told Times of Malta he was pleased the Commission’s main proposals – two-sided pictorial warnings and a ban on flavoured tobacco – were approved, albeit the graphic warnings were smaller than he wanted.
The Parliament was supposed to vote on the directive on September 10 but leaders of the main centre-right political groups got the vote postponed to Tuesday.
Despite the outcome differing from the Commission’s proposal, Dr Borg welcomed the European Parliament’s “positive vote” in favour of engaging in negotiations with the Council, which should begin in the next 10 days.
“It’s not the end of the road but this will allow us to take the process of negotiations forward and to engage with the Council to come to a meaningful agreement on the file,” he said.
The Commission would now carefully analyse the amendments adopted by MEPs and define its position so that negotiations could continue with representatives of the Parliament and the Council, Dr Borg added.
“All institutional actors have to play their role since EU citizens expect all of us to act on tobacco and to adopt in the near future a new legislation which will put the EU on the frontline on a global stage,” he said.
Following Tuesday’s vote, left-wing lawmakers and anti-tobacco campaigners accused the centre-right group of being in the pocket of tobacco lobbyists by opposing more stringent measures.
Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola said she was proud that despite the strong lobbying efforts, the Parliament agreed to cover 65 per cent of packaging by health warnings, which she said was a huge increase on current rules.
“We have come a long way despite the controversial history of this dossier. I am pleased that we defeated attempts to derail the process and have a good piece of legislation in front of us.
“The simple truth is that smoking kills, 800 people have died of lung cancer in Malta in the last five years and hundreds of thousands have died across the EU.”
She said the legislation would discourage people from taking up smoking and encourage smokers to quit.
The original tobacco directive was adopted in 2001. It is being updated to reflect market, scientific and international developments in the tobacco sector.