The revised EU’s Tobacco Products Directive seeks to ‘nudge’ citizens towards making better decisions about smoking whilst preserving individual choice

In recent years, governments have been embracing policies that ‘nudge’ citizens into making decisions that are better for their own health and welfare, and the European Commission has embraced this ‘libertarian paternalism’ in its review of the Tobacco Products Directive. Alberto Alemanno explains that by introducing measures such as plain packaging and display bans, the European Union may be able to ‘nudge’ people into smoking less, whilst preserving their right to choose.